


Silence in Atlas

by SkyeChaser



Category: RWBY
Genre: Additional Warnings Apply, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, F/F, Graphic Description, Violence, Warnings May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2019-10-24 15:41:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 29
Words: 44,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17707034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyeChaser/pseuds/SkyeChaser
Summary: She thought she knew what pain was. Atlas would prove her so very wrong. Sometimes silence speaks louder than words.Please find me.





	1. Gone

“Blake!” Yang called as soon as she entered the house. There was no response. She tried a couple of more times before she finally got an answer.

“She’s not here” Ruby replied, appearing from the kitchen.

“What?” Yang asked, worried, her eyes wide open.

“Wasn’t she with you?” Weiss asked from the living room as she lowered her book.

“She was but…” the blonde lowered her gaze. She wasn’t proud of what had happened but she couldn’t stay calm while those guys insulted Blake. Maybe scaring them away with her semblance was a bit too much. It was the first time in a long time that her anger had gotten the better of her. They had to give her that. Blake was mad. She had asked her not to make a scene several times before since their arrival at Atlas. Yang had tried her best but when someone yells “fucking faunus trash” at someone you care about so much it can get on your nerves and make you lose your temper. Yang said she needed to take a walk to calm down. Blake said she was going back to the house.

“Guys?” Jaune asked as he, Nora and Ren came into the room having heard the commotion “Everything alright?”

“It seems Blake is missing” Weiss replied, visibly worried.

“We argued” Yang finally said “She said she was coming back. She should be here” there was a tense silence.

“Have you tried her scroll?” Ruby suggested.

“No answer… I thought maybe she was still mad and…” Yang was starting to worry. Why did they separate? Atlas was dangerous for faunus. Had something bad happened to Blake? This was all her fault.

“I’ll call her” Jaune offered. Once again there was no answer.

“We’ll go out and look for her. Maybe she got distracted on her way here…” Ruby said. They all went out, even Qrow and Maria. No one had seen Blake in the neighborhood. They went back to where Yang and her had split that afternoon and tried to make do of her steps which was specially hard when most of the people they interrogated had a disgusting comment to say when they heard they were looking for a faunus girl.

“We should probably call Ironwood in the morning. Maybe get some security footage” Qrow suggested.

“In the morning?” Jaune said “It’s already 3am”

“We should get some rest and make a plan” Weiss proposed. They were all absolutely tired after walking the streets all night. Turns out the police in Atlas are not much help when you are looking for a faunus. They said they’d look for her. They weren’t so sure they would.

“I’m gonna be the one to say it” Nora intervened out of the blue “Maybe Blake…”

“No, she hasn’t” Yang said in a firm voice, interrupting the redhead “Something has happened to her”. There was no way Blake had left. Absolutely no way.

The team returned to the house to rest. They were staying at one of the Schnee’s many houses in the city. Weiss’s father had, of course, absolutely no idea they were there and she was pretty sure it would take him a while to realize someone was using the house. It was one of their smallest properties. Yang hoped Blake would be at the house like that time Oscar had gone missing in Argus. She wasn’t.

……….

“Yang?” Ruby asked as she walked into the living room. Her sister was sitting on the couch, looking through the window.

“Yeah?” she said, her voice somehow broken.

“Have you gotten any sleep?”

“No” the blonde replied “I can’t sleep while she’s out there. I just…”

“I know” Ruby whispered as she sat next to her. “But you need your strength if we are going to find her”

“It’s my fault” Yang’s voice cracked. “I should have walked back with her”

“We don’t know what happened” Ruby tried to calm her, placing a hand on her back. “But we will find her”

“You don’t think…” Yang turned around to look at her sister with tears on her eyes. She was trying so hard not to go there but there was that little voice in the back of her head. “She promised, Ruby. She’d promise she’d never leave again”

“And I am sure she hasn’t” the leader or team RWBY replied with a stern voice. “I’ve seen how she looks at you”

“What do you mean?”

“I know, sis” she smiled into her own words “I think you are really cute together” somehow, over all of her sadness and worry, Yang smiled the tiniest smile.

“I’ve never felt like this about anyone” the blonde said after a while. “I just need to know she’s okay”

“Hey” Ruby hugged her tightly out of the blue. Yang melted into the gesture. “We are going to find her”

……………….

It was dark and she couldn’t move. Her hands were tied and so were her feet. There was something on her neck, like a metal necklace, and she could feel a small wound underneath the collar. No, it wasn’t dark, her eyes were closed. They were so heavy. Blake took a deep breath before focusing all of her available strength in trying to remember what had happened. She remembered arguing with Yang. She remembered that she started her way back to the house. That was it. Now she was here. She worried Yang would be in a similar predicament. Suddenly there was noise. A door. Somebody came into whatever place she was in and walked towards her.

“Hey there, kitty” a male voice said. It was raspy and creepy. She didn’t move. “I know you are awake, bitch” he laughed. “Open your eyes” she didn’t. He snickered. “This is your last chance to do as I say. Open your fucking eyes” this time she sincerely tried to do so but found herself to weak to even move. The man laughed. There was a clicking sound and then the world exploded in pain. She could feel it in every part of her body and she tried to scream but she couldn’t. It was like electricity coming out of the collar. After what seemed like an eternity the pain stopped. Blake’s eyes were now wide open and she sat up, terrified.

She was in some kind of dark shed. Her hands and feet were chained together with enough room to stand up and walk but pretty restrictive nonetheless. She tried to speak but no words left her mouth. Only a raspy groan, like she had the worst case of laryngitis of her entire life. The wound in her throat burned. The man laughed. He was tall and bald. His skin was very white and he was dressed like a bandit. Blake wanted to kill him.

“Don’t try to speak, kitten” he spat at her “We made sure no one would hear you scream with a little procedure” Blake’s eyes shot open. This couldn’t be happening. “We cut your vocal chords”

She tried to scream. She tried to say anything. It burned. It hurt. This couldn’t be true. How was she going to get out this place. Where even was this place? She thought of Yang. She wanted to see her. She wanted to be found but she couldn’t even scream for help. She looked at the man. Maybe she could wrestle him into the ground, get the key in his belt and free herself.

“I really don’t like how you are looking at me” he said and then she heard that fucking click.

The world exploded in pain once more and Blake screamed in absolute silence.


	2. The Traders

\-----  
WARNING: Hey there, thanks for giving this dark tale a chance. Once again I will warn of the graphic and violent nature of this story and this is just the beggining. I am a bipolar insomniac that likes writing angst and pain so this could be the first story I actually finish. Who would have thought. Remember you have been warned.   
\-----

“What?” Ironwood asked, visibly angered by what he had heard. “She’s missing?” 

“Since yesterday afternoon we’ve known nothing about her” Qrow said. They had decided he was going to be the one doing the explaining. Yang agreed only because she knew losing her temper was not going to help her find Blake. She was thankful the general had received them in his office with such short notice and wanted to waste no time arguing. 

“Where did you see her last?” he asked. 

“We split up around Themis Park” Yang replied. Ironwood nodded.

“There’s security cameras all around the park. Let’s see if any of them caught what happened”. He started typing in his computer and the blonde moved so she could see the screen. Ruby joined her. The rest of the team remained silent. Waiting. 

“That’s us!” Yang pointed out “On camera 6”. The image was pretty clear and showed them having an argument. Ruby placed a hand on her sister’s back, knowing how guilty she felt for leaving the faunus alone. Once they split, Blake appeared on camera 5, making her way to the house like she had said. Suddenly she stopped walking. She looked around, her ears perked up. She made a face of discomfort and placed a hand on her arm. The camera went out. 

“What?” Ruby yelped “The image just cut out!” 

Yang wanted to say something. There were so many feelings in her that words eluded her. She was in shock. What had she just seen? The rest of the team moved closer to the screen only to see how the image came back and there was no sign of Blake. 

“This is what I was afraid of” Ironwood said, taking a hand to his face.

“What do you mean?” Qrow asked. 

“They call themselves The Traders. We’ve been after them for the last two years. They…” he looked up at the group, all of them with worry in their eyes. How was he supposed to tell them that Blake had been taken by faunus traffickers?

“They what?” Weiss asked, part of her knowing what the man meant.

“They do commerce with faunus” 

“They do what?” Yang’s eyes turned red as she slammed Ironwood’s desk with her prosthetic hand. 

“They are an organized and armed ground that kidnap faunus all around Atlas and auction them to the miners in Mantle” 

Silence. Absolute silence. No one knew what to say. Blake had been taken. Blake was going to be sold like an animal in an auction. Yang wanted to cry and hit someone at the same time. Her complete body was shaking. 

“So where do we find this people?” Ruby asked, the first one to muster enough will to talk again. Ironwood lowered his head.

“We actually don’t know where they are or who they are. We have only captured two of their members and they killed themselves before we could interrogate them” 

“So you have this huge militia but you can’t find this people somehow” Weiss added, folding her arms and feeling so very ashamed of having being born in Atlas. What was wrong with this people? 

“As I have told you. They are very organized and they have some serious hackers as you could see in the video. They deactivate our cameras, mess with our databases…” Ironwood felt like crap. They were right. Why hadn’t they captured The Traders already? Deep down he knew what the answer was. 

“I bet if it was humans the went missing all of these bastards would be in jail” Jaune said, looking him straight in the eyes.The general didn’t deny it. 

“What do we do now?” Yang asked, her voice broken “How do we get her back?” 

\---

“Now for the last time” the man said “Down, bitch” 

Blake stood in front of him with anger and hatred in her eyes. Her legs were shaking and her breath was weak. She was starving. She hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since they had taken her and she had lost count of how many times she had me electrocuted by the collar. Her body was starting to break down. 

“So you are not going to move?” 

Click. Before she knew it she was on the ground, convulsing in absolute pain, unable to actually scream. The wound in her throat burnt intensely. 

“I wouldn’t have to do this if you would behave, kitten” those words sounded oh so very familiar “Now stand up”

She didn’t move. 

Click. Blake braced herself for the pain but it never arrived, she looked up at the man. He was laughing. 

“That was a warning. Get up” Blake stayed still. “Look. I really don’t care if i electrocute you to death, bitch. I have other faunus that behave themselves ready for the market. So do this for yourself. Get the fuck up” 

The words resounded in her ears. What if she died here? Electrocuted to death for not obeying this man. They’d probably dispose of her body and no one would ever find out what had happened to her. What would her friends think? Her parents? What would Yang think? The thought of the blonde gave her a bit of strength. She stood up slowly. She was not going to die like this. She had made a promise and she was going to be reunited with Yang. There was no way she would let her believe she had run away again. She knew her team was looking for her and she was going to make sure she was alive when they did. And then she was going to electrocute this man to the brink of death. 

“Good, kitty” he said “Now get down”

Blake took a deep breath and obeyed. After everything she had been through she was not going to die here. She was not going to leave Yang alone.


	3. Window

Yang had probably seen the video of Blake getting kidnaped about one hundred times. She had identified the exact moment when they shot what Yang believed to be tranquilizer at the faunus and had estimated the angle from when it came. Since there was nothing registered in the cameras around the park the blonde assumed it had come from one of the houses nearby. Now she stood at that exact same street looking at every possible place from where the shot could have come from. There were several windows that might have allowed the shooter to aim perfectly but there was something about one of them that caught her attention: there had been absolutely no movement in the hour she had been there. 

“I think I have the place” she said into her scroll. 

“Want backup?” Ruby asked. 

“No. Its okay. You go deal with the relic” she replied. The team was having a hard time dealing with the authorities in Atlas and since Ozpin was still pretty much locked inside Oscar they had to do recognizance on their own. “I’ll tell you if I find anything” 

“Take care”

“You too” she put away her scroll and started making her way towards the darkened window. It was on the second floor of a seemingly abandoned house. She wanted to break through the door but decided otherwise. She didn’t want to make a scene and alter The Traders. She wanted to surprise them. She wanted to punch every single one of them to the brink of dead and let them rot in Atlas prison for the rest of their existences. It wasn’t really hard to enter through one of the first floor’s back windows. The place was trashed. Probably had been abandoned for a long time and had been used by drifters and criminals. She went up the stairs slowly, not really knowing if she was alone in the house. 

The second floor was mostly empty. She entered the front room and clearly recognized it as the one she could see from the street. From the open window she could see the spot were Blake was taken. She looked around the room, using her scroll to light up the floor. It seemed pretty spotless. Yang didn’t rush. She looked at every single spot inside the room. It took her about forty five minutes before she actually found something. Under a broken piece of furniture she found a dart. A fucking dart. 

Someone in that same room had shot Blake with a tranquilizer gun of some sort and they had taken her. They had taken her to sell her in the black market. Yang saw her tears hit the floor under the light of her scroll before she actually realized she was crying. It had already been four days. What was Blake going through? Why couldn’t she just calm herself and walk back to the house together? Why, Yang? She clenched her fists and took a deep breath. It was not time to break down. She had to get this dart to Ironwood’s specialists. Whatever information they gave her was one step closer to finding Blake. 

\------- 

The world was made of pain. Blake didn’t even know how much time had passed since they had taken her. It could have been a day. It could have been a week. Time lost sense when everything was taken by darkness. She was locked in that room with nothing but a bucket and, sometimes, a piece of hard bread. She had started to drink the water that dripped from a corner in the roof. 

There was no way she was getting out of that place by herself. There were some sort of sensors, she had learned, that detected if she moved too close to the door and activated the collar. She thought maybe she would get used to being electrocuted and it would hurt less every time. That didn’t happen. Every single time she felt like life was being drained out of her. Even when the man did a warning click, or whatever he called them, she could feel all of body convulse. 

“Kitten” the creepy man said as he entered the room. Her body tensed at the sound of his voice. “We are getting closer to your big day so I need to make sure you are in your best behavior, okay?” 

Click. Nothing. 

“So we are going to go through all our training”.

Click. Nothing. 

“And make sure you are a good kitty”. 

Click. Nothing. 

“So come here and sit” he said, pointing to floor in front of him. Blake did as he told her, too afraid of being electrocuted again. Those warning clicks had really made a number on her without the actual electricity and she wasn’t looking forward to the world exploding in pain again. 

“Good bitch” he said as he patted her on the head. She wanted to vomit. “Now look at me” She did. 

Click. She fell to the ground, her body shaking uncontrollably from the pain. Then it stopped and she could hear the man laughing. 

“Oops” he said “I’m sorry. My hand slipped” she sat buck up, not wanting to feel that agony ever again in her life. She looked at the man, her eyes puffy and red. “Very good. You are behaving pretty well, kitten. I am proud” 

He patted her head twice and then proceed to hold one of her ears with his thumb and index finger. It was not painful but Blake felt it like a violation. No one touched her ears. She started shivering. She wanted to attack him but she knew he would just press that fucking button before she could do anything. He always seemed to know when she was even thinking about attacking him. The faunus girl thought it had something to do with his semblance. The man stroke her ear lightly and then held her chin with the same hand, forcing her to look him in the eyes. 

“That’s a nice faunus” he whispered. He was always so creepy but in that particular moment Blake was absolutely terrified of him. It would turn out, of course, that there was a reason for that.


	4. Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is darkest thing I've ever written. I know I say this at the start of every chapter but this time I'm really serious. If you are triggered by ANY KIND of violent event check the end notes before reading for a more detailed warning. Things will get worse before they get better.

“So this is supposed to be your last day here with us, kitten” the man said, still looking her in the eyes. “I need to make sure you have no willpower left so that you will obey your new owners” Her body tensed. What was that even supposed to mean?

That was when she realized the man had something in his hands.

The pain was sharp, but not as intense as the electricity. She was used to getting hit in combat. Her aura could protect her from this. Not like with the collar. The man hit her again with the bat and she could feel the barbed wire wrapped around it scratching her skin.

“Looks like this won’t work with you” he smiled “You are pretty strong, kitten. Guess we’ll have to do this the hard way”.

Click. Click. Click. She thought she knew what pain was. She was wrong. Nothing could be called pain in comparison to what she was feeling after those three fucking clicks. The electricity was so intense she could feel the veins in her eyes breaking and her heart beating in her ears. When it stopped she could feel her aura depleting.

“Okey. Now we can play my game” the man said as he started beating her with the bat. Blake had nothing left in her. She just wanted this to be over. She could taste her own blood in her mouth as she lost count of how many times he had hit her. After a while he stopped, kicked her straight in the stomach and laugh.

“That is the new level of pain you’ll deal with from now on, okay? If you even think about attacking me, I’ll activate it. It won’t electrocute me because I have this sweet little thing” he added, pointing at a large bracelet in his left hand. “But you know what it will do to you, right?” Blake stared “I said…. You know what it will do, right?”

She nodded weakly. The man smiled.

“Don’t move. That is an order” he held her shoulders with both of his hands. They felt disgusting. He forced her into the floor, facing the ground. The shackles in her hands were trapped under her body, pressing against her stomach. “Good. Remember: don’t fucking move, bitch, or I’ll use it”.

TRIGGER WARNING BEGINS

She was petrified. Not only had that fucking collar gotten three times more painful but her entire body was aching from the beating. She had no aura left to deal with the damage. Still, she could feel when the man climbed on top of her and started fidgeting with her clothes, or what was left of them after the barbed wire. No. Please, no. Not this.

“Good kitten” he said in a raspy tone. She could hear him unbuckling his belt. No, please. Lowering his zipper. The first thing she felt was a hand on the back of her head, grabbing at her hair. Then she felt his weight on top of her. And then she felt him inside her. She wanted to die. She wanted to disappear. She wanted to be anywhere else. She thought of Yang. She had to think of Yang or she would give up. It was painful. The man groaned harder every time and Blake wished she was deaf instead of mute. She took a deep breath. Her mind took her to another place: to her room at Beacon. Those days seemed so far away now, like another life. She focused on that. On classes. On her friends. On the first rounds of the tournament. On the exams. On the teachers. On her team. On Yang. That was her safe place. Those lilac eyes were her haven and she just wanted to see them again.

Then it was over and his breath slowly went back to normal. He got up. Fixed his pants.

“That was great” he said “You didn’t move. You never thought of attacking me” he smirked. “If there aren’t many good offers tomorrow. Maybe I’ll keep you for myself, kitty”

TRIGGER WARNING ENDS

Blake just layed there. Her face devoid of any emotion, too broken and tired to express anything. Once he left, her body convulsed and she threw up. There was barely anything in her stomach but she simply couldn’t stop. When she was done she dragged herself to the other side of the room, as far as she could get without activating the sensors. Then she just layed there, on the ground, too weak to cry. How was she supposed to stay alive through this? Were they even going to find her? Blake took a deep breath. There had to be a way out of this. If she was being auctioned then they had to take her somewhere else, maybe there would be a moment in which she could escape.

She hugged herself, wishing, like every single time she tried to fall asleep in that helhole, that she was back at Yang’s side. She could remember her scent from memory and hear her voice in her mind. She tried to remember every single one of her smiles. Their hugs. Their lingering touches. Would she get a chance to kiss her? The thought of dying before ever enjoying loving her dragon send her into a borderline panic attack. It wasn’t fair. Why had this happened?

“Please find me, Yang” she mouthed silently. 

—–

“This dart is a very specific brand” the expert said. Yang smiled. This could narrow things down quite a bit. It was already day five since Blake had been taken and she didn’t know what else to do. Yang couldn’t stop thinking about what the faunus was probably going through and it made her want to cry. “It comes from a store in Altea Street called The Weaponry. Its downtown”.

“You think they keep a record of their sales?” she asked, taking back the dart from the man.

“Most weapon stores are obligated to in order to have register of every weapon in Atlas. So they should” the man replied. She thanked him and left in a hurry. There was no time to lose. She just wished she had Bumbleby. Or money to take a cab.

The store was pretty fancy for a weaponry but she guessed this was a classical Atlas scenario. The name itself was a clue. She went in, the door activating a bell on top of it. A man standing behind a counter smiled at her. He had black hair and a moustache and seemed around her father’s age.

“What can I help you with?” he asked. Yang walked towards him in a somehow intimidating fashion.

“I need to know who bought this dart” the blonde replied, taking it out of her pocket and putting in the man’s face.

“That is indeed one of our products” the man recognized. “But I can’t tell you who bought it unless you have a…” Yang placed a piece of paper in front of him. She was so glad she stopped by Ironwood’s before leaving the base and got his signature on a search order.

“Got it” Yang stated. Her eyes flashing red for a second.

“Ok…” the man went to the computer at the counter and entered the dart’s serial number. Nothing came on the screen.

“What? I thought you said this was one of your products”.

“It is but we don’t have any registered sale. I might have been stolen or…” Yang had had enough. She was losing valuable time. Something in the way the man’s eyes never looked directly at her made her suspect he was hiding something. She took him by the collar of his shirt with her mechanical arm, her eyes fixated on red.

“You are going to tell me who bought this. I know you know so stop making shit up. Whoever used this thing kidnapped my…” there was second there where Yang’s mind tried to define what Blake was to her. The answer suddenly seemed obvious “They kidnapped my girlfriend”.

“Is she a faunus?” the man asked.

“Yes”

“I’m sorry… I can’t…” he cried. Yang smashed her hand against the counter, breaking the glass.

“You are going to tell me right now or I’m gonna make sure you need one of this” she said, referring to her prosthetic. He shivered.

“It’s The Traders” the salesman said finally “We do business with them under the table”

“Why would you do that?” the blonde asked, trying to understand why someone would even sell to such monsters.Was Was Atlas really that sick?

“They have us threatened and I… I suspect the owner of the store hates faunus”. She let him down. This wasn’t this guy’s fault.

“I need to find them” Yang said, her eyes back to lilac.

“Ok” the guy replied “But make sure they don’t know the info came from here. They would make us disappear” the huntress nodded. She was going to destroy them either way.

“I’ll make sure of it”

He told her that The Traders came every week to restock ammo. They couldn’t buy in great quantity without alarming the militia. The next day they would pick up a package at 11pm. One more day. She was so close to find her and now she had to wait. This would be the longest day and a half of her fucking life.

“Please be there” she prayed in her head “Please be okay”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter depicts extreme violence and a sexual assault. I kinda based it on my own experience with abuse and I tried to be as realistic as possible without being morbid in any way. If you want to skip it its okay, I’ll put a warning before it happens.


	5. Remorse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will indicate when that part starts and ends. I want to thank all the people who are reading this story and a special thanks to those who have written comments. You give me the motivation to go on. The great kusnilive in Tumblr illustrated one of the scenes from the last chapter so check it out (https://kusnilive.tumblr.com/post/182898005683/i-just-love-the-angst-im-sorry-based-on). Now, onto the chapter.

“I’m sorry!” Yang said, her tone a little bit louder “I just couldn’t stand the way they were talking to you!”

“I told you this was going to happen” Blake replied, exasperated. “I do not engage them. I don’t want to get in trouble and I don’t want to prove them right”

“Right about what?”

“About faunus, Yang!” she yelled. A couple of people turned around to look at them.

“I get it, Blake” the blonde replied, her voice adopting a somehow harsh tone “But you weren't the one engaging them. I was!”

“It is the same thing. You are being caught in their game”. She stopped walking. Took a deep breath and then talked again. “I do not expect you to understand how it feels to be a faunus so just let me handle it”

“But I’m here!” Yang said. She wanted to understand. She wanted Blake to really open up about how she was feeling. They were finally able to be there for each other and somehow it seemed they still had things to settle. The truth was they hadn’t really talked about their feelings after their fight with Adam. There was something about Atlas that made Blake close up again.

“I’m going back to the house” Blake said, turning around “You coming?”

“I think I need to get some more fresh air” Yang replied. She could feel the anger pooling inside and she didn’t want to take that “home”.

“Oh, ok” the faunus replied, a little bit sad “See you there”

“Sure”

“Sure”

“Sure”

The sound of her own voice echoed in the darkness. Those were the last words she had said to Blake before she was taken. She had asked her to go with her and she had said no.

From the shadows she could see a silhouette. She walked towards it.

“Yang” it was Blake’s voice. “Yang”

“Blake?” she replied “Blake where are you?”

“Yang!” this time it sounded like a cry for help. “Yang!” her voice cracked. It seemed like she was crying.

“BLAKE!” the blonde yelled at the top of her lungs, running at full speed towards the silhouette. When she was finally close enough to confirm it was Blake her whole body froze. The faunus was still calling her.

“YANG!” each time harder, each time more desperate. Blake fell to her knees and a different figure appeared behind her. It was Adam.

“I still don’t know what she sees in you” he said. Yang wanted to say something back but she couldn’t, her body still frozen. Adam raised his sword and without hesitation plunged it through Blake’s back. She looked up, her eyes wide open and blood coming out of her mouth.

Yang woke up covered in cold sweat, a scream leaving her lungs. She was shivering. When had she fallen asleep? She was sitting on the couch, looking out the window in the same place she had spent every minute she wasn’t out getting information.

“Yang? What happened?” Ruby ran out of her room, the rest of the team appeared to still be asleep. Her sister didn’t answer so the teen walked towards her. “Sis?”

“Why didn’t I walk with her back to the house?” she asked.

“Yang, we’ve already talked about this. You couldn’t have known this was going to happen”. Ruby sat next to Yang and tenderly placed a hand on her knee. 

“I could have stopped it… I can’t stop thinking about her. What is she going through?” She clung to her sister as the tears started to leave her eyes. The pain in her chest was so intense she could barely breathe. The image of Blake desperately calling for her was burnt into her mind. It took about a minute before any of them could talk again.

“We are going to find her” Ruby replied. “I’ll come with you next time. We can tell Weiss and…”

“No” Yang said, breaking the hug. She took a deep breath. “It's better if I go alone. It's easier to hide. If they are as organized as Ironwood said then they probably have their whole base or whatever with strict vigilance ”

“I get it but… Let’s have Ironwood be ready to with some troops once you get her out. We’ll wait with him” Yang nodded, approving of her sister’s plan.

“What time is it?” the blonde asked, standing up and rubbing her eyes with her hands.

“It’s 3 am.” Weiss said, entering the living room with a concerned look. “How are you holding up?”

“At least I have a plan” Yang answered. “I just hope she’s still with the Traders once I get there. That’s if they haven’t…” She knew what she wanted to say. If they haven’t sold her yet. But the words hurt her throat and she couldn’t bring herself to let them out. Ruby and Weiss both understood what she meant.

“Let’s not think about that scenario yet” the white haired girl said. Yang nodded. She understood where Weiss was coming from but, being honest, that scenario was the only thing she could think about.

\-----------------

Blake didn’t know if she had fallen asleep or fainted but she woke up to the sound of the door opening. She had stayed up trying to scratch a message in the floor of the room in case Yang was able to track her down to that place. She had used her chains to do it and it had had seriously damaged her wrists. The faunus hid the message under a broken carboard box, hoping the man would not notice it. When he came in, her body tensed up. Click. Nothing. He was carrying a bucket and a dirty rag.

“Hello, kitten” he said, throwing both of the things he was carrying in front of her. “We are leaving in about an hour so and I need you to look decent enough. Use this and wash up” Blake sat up and looked him in the eyes for a second. Click. Nothing. She looked down, held the rag and dipped it in the water. She started cleaning herself slowly.

Blake hadn’t really taken the time to examine her own body since she had been taken so she was actually surprised at her own injuries. There were scratches and scabs all over her and, under the shackles in her wrists and ankles, her skin was raw. Some areas were very sensible to the touch. Still, what shocked her the most were the traces of blood coming from between her legs. Cleaning them up brought back so many images to her head.

“Sorry if I was too rough, kitten” he said with a laugh. “You want to attack me so bad right now don’t you?”

“No” she mouthed as she held herself tightly and closed her eyes.

“It’s okay” he said “I’ll this one slide”

“Thank you” she mouthed before even realizing what she was doing. How broken was she to thank him for anything?” 

“Put this on” the man ordered, handing her a black shirt and pants. Both of them looked pretty worn out. Blake froze for a second. Was he going to stay there while she changed? For a split second she thought about attacking him. He was so close. Maybe she could get the clicker and be done with this. She could escape and…

“Oh, such nice thoughts you are having, bitch. And to think I just gave you a free pass”

Click. Click. Click.

She fell to the ground, screaming in silence. When it was over she wondered how she was even still alive?

“So now… Put those clothes on”. This time Blake did as she was told. Her eyes never left the floor. She didn’t want to see how the man stared at her body. She changed as fast as it was possible.

“Okey, now we can go” he said, holding her chains and pulling her forward. Blake stood up next to him. That’s when she saw he was holding a piece of cloth. He used it to blindfold her.

Blake followed the man in the darkness, trying not to think of ways of attacking him and running away. They walked through what seemed like and endless hallway. She heard voices. What kind of place was this?

“Hey, Aleph!” a voice called from her right. It was another man. He seemed young. Apparently her torturer’s name was Aleph. It seemed too human a name to belong to such a demon.

“What, Slayter?” the man… Aleph said.

“We are leaving, man” the new voice replied. “Hurry!”

“And who do you think you are to be talking to me like that?”

“I’m sorry, Aleph. Zabina sent me and I…”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever… So, what do you think, boy?” Aleph asked and Blake knew immediately he was talking about her.

“Very nice product” the youngster said. “You have a thing for cat faunus don’t you?”

“Indeed” he laughed and pulled on her chain. Blake fell to the floor. “And she has behaved very well” he patted her on the head like she was a pet. Blake tried going to her safe place. Think of Yang. Think of Yang. She repeated the mantra in her head once and again.

“I’d ask you if you would lend her to me for a round” Slayter said and Blake wanted to throw up. “But we are leaving so let’s go”.

“Lead the way, boy”

Think of Yang.

Think of Yang.

Think of...

“Here’s where we part ways, kitten” Aleph’s voice brought her back to reality. She was outside. She could feel air against her skin and it almost hurt. It was night, or so it seemed through the cloth in her eyes. “Behave your best with your new owners. I hope you remember our time together fondly” Click. Nothing. Suddenly she felt Aleph’s breath on one or her cat ears. “And don’t forget: wherever you go, I will always be there”

Blake felt her body freezing with fear. What was that even supposed to mean? She felt her chains were take by someone else. This was a woman. Somehow it seemed outrageous. How could a woman condone what had been done to her?

“Climb up” she said, Blake didn’t understand what she meant. “There’s a truck in front of you. Step up”. The faunus did as she was told and felt how she was dragged into a vehicle. Click. Nothing.

“I have a clicker” a voice called from what Blake believed was the driver’s seat. “And it will shock all of you at the same time. So don’t try anything funny and those of you who can talk, don’t.”

Blake could feel herself descending into the darkest realms of her own mind. She was never going to be able to escape. There was no way she was going to risk electrocuting all the other faunus in that fucking truck. She just hoped Yang could track her down and somehow read her message. The faunus next to her started to cry and Blake felt a knot in her throat. He sounded like a child.


	6. Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will indicate when that part starts and ends. 
> 
> I am so thankful to all of you who are reading this and taking the time to comment. It really inspires me to keep going and for once finish a story! WELL NOW ON WITH THE CHAPTER.

Two men arrived in a vehicle and went into the store at exactly 11 pm. She could see them through her binoculars. The salesman locked the door after letting them in. These two belonged to The Traders, she had no doubt about it. Yang took a deep breath, preparing herself. Ironwood had lent her a bike specifically designed to be stealthy so she was ready to follow them once they got out. Another deep breath. This is it.

“Well, it’s always nice doing business with you” one of the men said as they left the store. They were carrying several boxes of ammunition with them. Deep breath. Their vehicle moved and so did her. She tried to keep a safe distance so they wouldn’t realize she was following them. They drove away from the fancy parts of Atlas and into the industrial area. It was almost an hour before they stopped.

It looked like an old building. Yang had noticed that was their way of hiding in plain sight. The men left the vehicle and knocked on the door five times slowly, stopped and knocked three more times a lot faster. That was seemed like a code. The door opened and both of them came in. Deep breath. She parked the bike behind another building and put on a black hooded jacket.

Yang walked towards the door and knocked five times slowly, stopped and knocked three times a lot faster. She heard steps walking towards the door. Don’t kill anyone, Yang. Don’t kill anyone. Deep breath. The door opened. A woman’s face appeared and looked at her puzzled.

“Are you with the Traders?” Yang asked.

“Who wants to know?” the woman replied moving her hand to the gun in her waist. That was all she needed to hear.

“Great” she replied and, before the woman could even grasp her weapon, she punched her in the stomach with her mechanical arm and sent her flying back into the building, falling unconscious to the floor. She stepped inside, hoping to see the base filled with those bastards. That wasn’t the case. The two men she had followed stared at her with disbelief from the back of the room. They looked at each other and grabbed their weapons. Awesome. Now she could to kick their asses. The fight was short. They weren’t really great at it, at least not compared to Yang. She disarmed both of them in about five minutes. No other Traders appeared. Seemed like the base was otherwise empty. Yang felt a knot in her throat. 

“Where are the rest?” she asked. The men looked at her from the floor, their eyes wide. It was clear this guys were not the best of The Traders. They were probably just errand boys picking up the ammunition.

“Everyone left yesterday after we moved the merchandise” one of the men said, clearly terrified at the blonde. Her eyes went red.

“Merchandise?” she asked “Is that how you talk about faunus?”

“That’s what they are” the other man said. His partner looked at him like he was crazy. That was obviously not a wise thing to say to the young woman after her remark. She kicked him into the wall and he fell unconscious to the floor. Her eyes went back to normal.

“Where did they take them?” she asked, looking around the base for any clue.

“They took them to the auction, down in the mines. By this time it’s probably already over”

“The mines?”

“The dust mines. They are our greatest… ehm… clients” he replied. “SDC, RSER, GTF… They buy from us under the table to have cheap labor force”

“SDC?” she asked “Schnee Dust Company?” the man nodded from the floor. She punched him in the face and he fell unconscious like the others. Yang grabbed her scroll and called Ruby.

“You found her?” her younger sister asked. Yang let out a sight.

“No, they’ve already moved them. There were only three people here. I knocked them out” she could sense Ruby’s worry even if she wasn’t saying anything. “Tell Ironwood to send some officials to have this people arrested. I’m going to look around for any kind of clue or whatever” deep breath “And tell Weiss we need to talk”.

————

“Our next product is a young dog faunus. 15 years of age. Strong. Not silenced. Clicker trained” it disgusted Blake the way in which this people referred to the faunus. For them they were nothing more than a product to be sold. Less than animals. People shouted. The boy was sold and she just kept her eyes on the ground because she was about to break down. She wished she still had the blindfold on.

“Our next product is A1 quality. Cat faunus snatched right out of Atlas. Strong. Pretty. Silenced. Clicker trained” she felt the tug at her chains and just went with it. She wasn’t trying to get electrocuted, or worse, killed for not behaving during the auction. Aleph had made it pretty clear that they wouldn’t tolerate any misconduct. She looked up at the people who were willing to buy her and she felt her stomach falling at her feet. She couldn’t believe what she saw in their eyes. They were excited. They were actually happy and having a good time.

“Sold to RSER Mining!” the voice called and she felt another pull at the collar. She went with it again. Before Blake knew it she was blindfolded again, her chains were tightened up and she was thrown into some kind of cage at the back of a vehicle. She could feel there were other faunus with her. She curled up in a corner and let herself cry. There was a hand on her back and she froze.

 

“Its okay, girl” an older woman said with a kind voice. She had forgotten there was a thing like kindness in this world. “Cry it out. We are all terrified here”

Blake cried with all she got, only small raspy sounds leaving her broken throat as she clung to the woman. Where were taking her now? How would her friends find her? Would she ever see Yang again? Her family? Her friends? There were so many things she wanted to do. How could they do this to the faunus? After all she had fought. After all the advances they had made towards equality this was still happening. And it was happening to her.

——————-

It didn’t take Ironwood’s men too long to arrive and arrest both the woman and the two men. They asked Yang if she needed help inspecting the place. She said all she needed was a strong flashlight because the base was covered in darkness. They gave her one and made it clear that she could call them anytime she needed. It amazed her how Ironwood could get his troops to be so helpful. Were any of them actually racist? Did they even know who she was looking for?

Yang inspected the now empty hideout thoroughly. There were several small dark rooms lined up in a long hallway. She counted ten. The blonde inspected each and every one of them. Under every box. Under every rag. She tried to ignore the little dots of blood she found in the first four rooms. The fifth one, however, was a little bit different. There were splatters of blood up the walls, on the floor, over the boxes. Her heart jumped to her throat and she could feel it beating on her ears. Yang bent down and noticed pieces of cloth that could very well belong to Blake’s outfit. No way. No fucking way. There was no way this was where they had her. There was no way all of this was Blake’s blood. She was desperate and began moving everything around the room. Then, under a box, she found a message scraped into the stone floor:

“Y,

I was here.

-B


	7. Dirt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will indicate when that part starts and ends. 
> 
> I’m so grateful for all of you out there reading this story and commenting. It means a lot and gives me lots of motivation to write. The end of the last chapter is one of my favourite scenes yet. If anyone would like to draw something related to that scene I would be forever grateful because I can’t draw at all. Well, here we go...

They took off her blindfold about an hour after they had arrived at the mine. When she saw the place she was in, her heart skipped a beat. Blake was reminded of Illya’s parents, dying inside a mine without their employers even caring. Would that happen to her? All the faunus were taken into one of the mines and divided into two groups: men and women. They walked into the tunnels for half an hour or at least that was what Blake estimated. Three men and one woman were behind them and one man was in the front, leading them into the darkness. Blake wanted to knock them out and run but she couldn’t act without thinking of the consequences. Now there were others involved. 

“This is your new home” the man leading them said. Click. Nothing. All fifteen faunus flinched. “Don’t try anything funny or I will electrocute all of you”. There were two cages, dug into the mine and covered in bars, one next to the other. Blake tried to identify any weakness or possible escape. There were none. She couldn’t risk electrocuting all of the other faunus.

“Okay, now get in” one of the men ordered, opening the cage. Blake walked in with the other rest of the women. One of them, however, fell to the ground from exhaustion before going in. She seemed about Ruby’s age.

“This is no time to rest, you piece of shit!” the same man yelled as he took a whip out of his belt. “Get up!”. The girl made her best effort to stand up but she just couldn’t. He readied himself to strike her and was surprised when someone blocked his attack. It was Blake. She used her arm to block the whip and it hurt like hell.

“Looks like we have a feisty one here” the man laughed and so did his mates. “We’ll have to do something about it”. Blake was able to evade the first kick to her face, the second one, however, took her by surprise. It was the man who had led them into the mine. They both laughed when she fell to the ground. She shivered. Was it a good idea to intervene? Where they going to electrocute them all? She heard the whip cutting the air before she felt in on her back. Once, twice… She stopped counting.

“Now get in, bitch” he said and Blake obeyed. They locked the cages and all of them, except for they guy with the whip, left the mine. He sat in a bench and leaned against the wall. Blake could see the clicker in his hand.

“Thank you” she heard behind her. It was the faunus she had defended. She had small bear ears on top of her head and light brown hair. Her eyes were light blue and she had huge bags under her them. Blake smiled the saddest and emptiest of smiles. “I’m Agape. What’s your name?” the black haired girl sighted and pointed to the scar on her throat. The sutures were never removed and her skin had started to grow around it. Agape gasped “You are silenced… I’m so sorry”

Blake looked down at the floor, kneeled and wrote her name on the dirt.

“Blake?” Agape said. She nodded “I’d like to say it's nice to meet you, but I think we are in hell”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” the man with the whip yelled. Everyone flinched, waiting for the click. It didn’t appear but Blake could feel her body shaking.

Hell. That seemed pretty accurate.

\----------

“WHAT?” Weiss exclaimed, unable to believe what she was hearing. Her father couldn’t have gotten this far… Or could he?

“That is what The Traders I captured said to me and what they told the military” Yang replied, sounding more stern that she originally intended.

“I don’t think this bastards have any reason to lie at this point” Qrow added. The rest of the group seemed to agree silently.

“I can’t believe this” the former heiress lowered her gaze. “I knew he was twisted but…”

“You need to go and talk to him. Tell him Ironwood is on his tracks, maybe we could get some information on where Blake is” Ruby proposed. Weiss trembled lightly at the idea of seeing her father again. “We’ll be there, of course” she added, placing a hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“I’d rather not go” Yang said, turning both her hands into fists. “I might not be able to control myself”

“It's absolutely comprehensible” Nora replied. “We’ll go and get all the info”

“Then we’ll send Ironwood and his guys in” Jaune added. Yang was glad she had her friend’s with her. It was already a week since Blake had gone missing. She couldn’t stop thinking about it. Too many things could happen in seven days. She tried to remain calm. Two hours later she was sitting on the couch looking out the window and waiting for the team to be back when she heard her uncle’s voice.

“Firecracker?” he said. Yang turned around to look at him. “How you holding up, kiddo?”

“I.. I just need to find her” she replied, trying her best not to sound broken.

“I get it”. Qrow sat next to her. “I know you and her… I mean… I know”

“I think everyone knew all along but us” she sighted.

“I know you are worried but we are going to find her” he placed a hand on her back affectionately.

“Even if we do... You didn’t see the place they had her in. It was… It was just filled with blood”. Once the tears appeared she just couldn’t control them. “What have they done to her? Is she even still… Is she...” she covered her face with both hands and cried. She cried the tears she couldn’t cry at The Trader’s hideout. The image of what was left of Blake’s clothes, broken and bloody, would not leave her mind.

Qrow wished he had something encouraging to say. He wanted to be the adult and tell her niece everything would be okay but he knew it would be a lie. He was scared, in the back of his mind, that they wouldn’t get to Blake in time, that maybe they were already too late. But he couldn’t say it. He didn’t even want to think about it. Not just for Blake, but also for Yang. He knew losing the faunus would absolutely destroy her. Qrow didn’t know how to help, he didn’t know how to comfort her. So he just stayed there, next to her, until her tears quieted down and she could breathe again.

Weiss and the others entered through the door. Yang looked at them with pleading eyes.

“We might know where she is” the former hairess said “And my dad is more than likely going to jail”.

\----------

The work itself was not hard, at least not to Blake. It mostly consisted in breaking rocks with a pike, putting them on a wagon and pushing it outside. None of them were allowed to leave the mine. They had sensors, just like the ones on the room The Traders have kept her in, that would electrocute anyone that tried to escape. However, while she was trained for battle and could do the job, for several of the other enslaved faunus that wasn’t the case. Most of them fell from exhaustion before their first day was over.

The man with the whip, who Blake had learned was called Yudok, would grab anyone that could no longer work and throw them back into the cage after a beating. When the night came it was only Blake, Agape and two other faunus that were still standing. They send them back to the cage and Blake was thankful they weren’t whipped like the others. Her body was aching like it had never before. Her aura tried its best to heal her, but she was so weak and starved it could only cure scratches.

“So that’s how life is gonna be now” Agape said to her almost in a whisper. Blake nodded with her cat ears down. “Outside here, what did you do?”

Blake used the dirt in the floor to write “Huntress”.

“You are a huntress?” the bear faunus said, visibly surprised. “That’s so cool. I was just a schoolgirl. I wanted to study psychology somewhere outside Atlas but… I guess that won’t happen”

“It will” Blake wrote, making a promise in her mind to take Agape with her when she left.

“I hope so” the girl replied. “I just wonder if my family is still looking for me…” Agape was so young. Those fucking Traders had no limits. They had taken away her future. Blake was so mad but she didn’t want to show it. Maybe she could give Agape some hope.

“They are” the cat faunus wrote once more. The girl smiled weakly.

“I wonder how long will it take my boyfriend to start dating someone else” she snickered. “Do you have a boyfriend, Blake?”

The world stopped for a second. She clearly didn’t have a boyfriend. She had a Yang but… What was Yang to her? Blake thought of her face, her smell, her smiles. Yang was her sun. Yang was her sky. She was the reason Blake could keep going every day since she had been taken. She was her hope. She was her dream. Blake smiled, something she thought she might never be able to do again, and wrote in the dirt again.

“Girlfriend. Yang. Huntress”

“She’s a huntress too? That’s awesome… Maybe she’ll find you and get us out of here” Agape said, a fake smile on her lips. Blake touched the girl’s shoulder and nodded.

“She will” she mouthed “I know she will”.


	8. Whisper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will indicate when that part starts and ends.
> 
> I have no words to express how thankful I am to all of you out there reading this. It means a lot that something I have worked in so much is being so well recieved. I just can’t believe it. I’ll try to update every 2-3 days so stay alert! If anyone out there wants to do any sort of work related to SIA, PLEASE DO AND TAG ME! :D

“We have detained several of RSER’s and GTF’s high commands. With the testimonies we got from the three Traders that were captured and the evidence we found in their scrolls, we have more than enough to make a case” Ironwood said.

“That’s good to know” Qrow replied. Ruby nodded. He wanted to add something else, but was cut short by another voice.

“What about my father?” Weiss added, crossing her arms. Ironwood moved in his chair and took a deep breath before answering.

“We can’t do anything against Jacques Schnee” the general said finally. “If we start investigating him he will stop providing the army with dust and we can’t have that. We need to be armed, now more than ever”.

“So you are just going to let him get away with this?” Yang asked, visibly upset. Ironwood looked down.

“I’m so sorry but this is how things work. We can talk to him about providing the faunus with better working conditions and stop his relationship with The Traders but…”

“This is unbelievable!” the former hairess exclaimed. “He admitted to my face that SDC made business with those people!”

“Politics are far more complicated than any of you can understand right now. I can’t declare war to the most powerful man in Atlas and leave the army unsupplied!” Ironwood replied as he stood up, smashing the desk with his fists. The whole team looked at him with disbelief. The general looked around the room and took a deep breath. “I have to protect the people of Atlas” he added sitting down, his voice softening. 

“Don’t you mean, the HUMANS of Atlas?” Yang asked, walking towards the general’s desk. There was as pregnant silence of about ten seconds before anyone spoke.

“I can understand that you are upset but…” Ironwood took a paper out of his pocket and placed it in his desk. “I have something for you”. Yang picked up the paper and read it. There were five names on it. “One of GTF’s executives was more than happy to give me this in order to get a shorter sentence. He’s going down for so many charges it won’t even matter. This are the men that his men sent to the auction yesterday. If any of them remember who took Blake then…”

“We might know where she is” Ruby completed the sentence and it floated on the air for a short while. 

“Any idea where I could find them?” the blonde asked, folding the paper and putting it in her pocket.

“I’d say you try your luck in the pubs near the industrial zone at night. Humans working down in the mines often spend their free time there” the general answered. “I could send someone with you in case…”

“No” Yang cut him. “Just have your troops ready to move in once I get her out. Unless Schnee Dust Company bought her, right?” she added, sarcastically. She wanted to punch the general in the face. She wanted to yell at him and be mad for all the faunus down in the mines. This was so unfair. Somehow, in her mind, she started to understand the road that had taken Adam into the darkness. If she, a human, was so upset about this situation, she could only imagine how it felt for the faunus. How it felt for Blake. She should have walked back to the house with her.

Finding her girlfriend was her number one priority but she wasn’t going to stop there. This was wrong and someone had to do something. If it had to be her then so be it. Yang had a plan: find Blake now, do justice later. She could work out the details on the way.

She was so close. So fucking close to finding Blake and now she had to wait again. Deep breath. Don’t kill anyone, Yang. Don’t let yourself fall that hard. The image of that room, blood splattered all around appeared on her mind with so much clarity she wanted to throw up.

“We’re close” Ruby said, putting a hand on her sister’s back as they walked out of Ironwood’s office. Weiss had her arms crossed and a permanent frown on her face. With the things they had found about SDC and Jacque’s declarations to her, she thought there was something they could do. Still, he managed to win. She was disgusted by him, ashamed of calling him father. He had laughed at her face once more.

\-----------------

There were only three bars in the industrial zone, Yang learned. The most popular one was called “Underground” and, as she stepped in, she got where the name came from: it was dark, humid and disgusting. The place was pretty full. Yang could feel how all the looks fell on her as she entered through the door. Deep breath. She walked towards the bartender and asked for a drink. She hoped it would help her calm down and not kill anyone. The woman came back with her order and Yang took her chance.

“Can I ask you something?” she said.

“Sure” the bartender replied. “I knew there was a reason for you to be here. Most of my customers are men and… Pretty disgusting actually” she laughed. Yang did not.

“Do you know any of this men?” the blonde placed the paper Ironwood gave her in the table. The woman picked it up and read it silently.

“Well, I know two of this guys and you are in luck because…” she pointed “That short bastard over there is Deegan Myehl”. Yang turned around, her eyes going red at the sight of the man. He was laughing with his pals like nothing was wrong in the world, like he hadn’t just been in that fucking auction. She couldn’t believe the man was actually there. This was the closest thing to luck she had experienced since Blake was taken. Yang emptied her drink and walked towards his table. 

Don’t kill anyone.

\-----

Blake didn’t know what time it was. Light inside the mine was completely artificial and it was always on. Was it day? Was it night? How many days had passed since she was taken? Her conception of time was fractured, her mind was a mess and she felt like having a panic attack every ten minutes. Her conversations with Agape were all that kept her from going completely crazy. Something about the girl’s personality reminded her of Ruby and she found it soothing. Yudok opened the cage, led them out, made them work. When was the last time she had eaten something? Blake felt like fainting. She started seeing double.

“Blake, you okay?” Agape whispered to her. Blake moved her head sideways, leaning on one of the walls. “Take a deep breath and work slowly. I’ll tell you if Yudok is looking this way”.

“Thank you” she mouthed. The younger girl smiled. Just like the day before some of the faunus couldn’t keep up with the work and where sent back to the cage after a beating. Blake felt like shit. Her body moved simply by inertia. Raise the pike. Get the dust. Put in the wagon. Raise the pike. Get the dust. Put in the wagon. Repeat.

“Do you think it's time to rest?” Yudok’s voice made its way to her ears and brought her back to reality. Agape was looking her way, begging her with her eyes not to intervene. The man was standing over one of the faunus, his eyes furious. He snickered and kicked him in the stomach. “Stand up”. The faunus tried and fell again. He was older, maybe her father’s age. “You’re really a piece of trash aren’t you?” Yudok raised the whip and smiled. “Last warning”.

Blake ran. She couldn’t bear with what this brute was doing. It was wrong. All of this was wrong. When the whip hit her it didn’t even hurt. She was beyond pain.

“You again?” the man said, an angry look in his eyes. “Stop trying to be a hero, kitten” Yudok grinned and Blake found it so terrifying. “If you weren’t such a nice piece of ass I would kill you right now but I gotta keep you for my boys. They’ll have fun with you”. 

Her body froze. She could see Aleph, his bald head and his green eyes looking down at her. His weight on top of her. His hand pulling on her hair. She started shaking. No. Please no. Not this again.

“Why so shocked?” Yudok asked, holding Blake by the chin. “You really think we paid so much for you just to have you work?”

She wanted to scream. She wanted to run. She wanted to leave this place behind and never think of it again. She wanted Yang. Yudok whipped her once in the chest and sent her back to work. Agape looked at her with worry on her eyes but didn't come any closer to comfort her, even if she wanted to. Neither of them wanted any more trouble. An eternity later, or at least that was how it felt, they were taken back to the cage.

“I’m so scared, Blake” Agape said, her voice almost a whisper, tears leaving her eyes timidly. 

“Me too” she wrote in the dirt, too tired and broken to give her friend hope.


	9. Staub

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will indicate when that part starts and ends.
> 
> I am so amazed at the reaction this fic is having. Thanks to everyone out there reading. Special shout out to @alie-black-cat-ler who illustrated the end of chapter 7 so check her Tumblr for an AMAZING illustration (https://alie-black-cat-ler.tumblr.com/post/183078532301/silence-in-atlas-chapter-7-i-absolutely-love-this)
> 
> Shit is soon to hit the fan.

All five men looked at Yang as she made her way towards their table. It took everything she had not to punch Deegan in the face the second he was within her range. Deep breath. She needed to get information from him. This man had seen Blake. This man had been present when somebody bought like she was a commodity. This was it. Don’t kill anyone. Her eyes were still red.

“I’m looking for Deegan” she said and, just like the bartender had told her, the shortest man identified himself.

“Well that would be me, blondie” he smiled, raising his hand next to his face and waving. “What have I done to deserve the…” he couldn’t finish his sentence. As soon as he corroborated his identity Yang pushed him into the wall by the collar of his shirt.

“I’m gonna ask you one thing and you are going to tell me the truth. Do you understand?” Deegan looked at her puzzled. The bar fell silent. Her mechanical arm shifted to combat mode. Yang laughed internally. Apparently no one cared enough about this guy to try to save him. Then, as if trying to prove her wrong, someone intervened. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” one of Deegan’s mates yelped, trying to pull Yang away from his friend. She elbowed him in the stomach without even looking at him and sent him flying back, crashing into the table. The rest of the men took a step back. They were certainly not a match for the blonde.

“I’m not fucking around” she growled as she pointed her gauntlet at Deegan’s throat. “Let me repeat myself: I’m gonna ask you one thing and you are going to tell me the truth. Do you understand?” he nodded. “Good. I know you were sent to an auction yesterday and I need you to tell me who took my girlfriend. She’s a cat faunus. She has long black hair and yellow eyes”.

“I don’t really remember if…” Deegan tried to say. Yang smashed him into the wall.

“Then make a fucking effort” she replied. Deep breath. Don’t kill anyone, Yang. The man made a real effort trying to remember. He closed his eyes and attempted to imagine the auction and suddenly it came to him. He had made an offer for a cat faunus but someone outbid him and took her. 

“I REMEMBER!” he said, surprising even himself with the memory. “RSER got her! This guy, Nero, he took her”

“Where did they take her?” Yang asked again. 

“They probably took her to their main mine. They call it Staub”

“Where is it?” Yang asked, pushing the man further into the wall. He cried.

“Its… Its down in Mantle! I… I think you should hurry”

“Why?” she asked. Of course she was going to hurry, it was pretty obvious. However, something about the way the man spoke gave her a bad vibe. When he answered she realized why.

“She’s really pretty”.

\-------------

She couldn’t sleep. Yudok’s voice was playing on her head on an infinite loop and it was driving her crazy. She wanted to leave this place and forget she was ever there. What if no one was looking for her? What if Yang thought she left because of their argument? What if she thought she had run away again? Those questions brought tears to her eyes. That was the scenario she had tried to keep out of her head since she was taken. She had to believe that they were coming. They had to be.

“Blake?” Agape’s voice was soft as she crawled close to her. She could feel her presence behind her back. Blake didn’t reply. She didn’t even move. “Blake, I know you are crying”.

Blake turned around slowly. The younger girl looked at her with open arms. How could Agape be braver than her? How could she be trying to comfort her. It was supposed to be the other way around. She was older. She was a huntress. She was…

“It's okay” the bear faunus whispered and somehow that was all it took for her to finally break down. She was no longer a huntress. She was no longer Blake Belladonna. She was no longer anything. She didn’t care. All she was, was scared and broken. Agape held her as she cried silently and, after a while, somehow they fell asleep.

“Kitten” someone said in the darkness. “Wake up” it was Yudok. She had to move. She had to obey. Please don’t hit me. Blake tried to open her eyes but she couldn’t. The man called for her one more time before she heard the clicker. When the electricity hit her she could hear a scream. It was Agape. She had forgotten she was still in her friend’s embrace. Her eyes shot open as she moved as far away as possible from the girl. Yudok laughed. “Apologize to the little girl, bitch. The settings on your collar are considerably higher than hers, that must have hurt. And be thankful I didn’t shock all of your little faunus friends along with you”.

Blake looked at Agape, her eyes bloodshot and still gasping for air. She wanted to go to her side but it was safer if she didn’t. Yudok could just shock them both if he wanted to.

“Stand up” he said, pointing at both girls. Agape could barely hold herself up with her legs. Her whole body was still trembling. Yudok opened the door and they stepped outside. He tied their shackles together with a chain and started walking outside the mine. They followed. Blake’s mind finally caught up with what was happening. Yudok’s voice echoed in her mind: They’ll have fun with you. Her hands started shaking. She felt weight on top of her. A hand holding her hair.

There was no way she was allowing this to happen to her again and, most of all, she wasn’t going to let it happen to Agape. Yudok had his back turned on them. Blake prepared to attack. The bear faunus noticed the change in her stance and pulled lightly on the chains. She turned around.

“Please don’t” Agape mouthed, looking at the chain binding their shackles together. She was right, if Yudok activated her collar it would shock the other girl again. Blake didn't know if Agape would be able take it.


	10. Jump

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will indicate when that part starts and ends. 
> 
> I am just marveled at all the people that are following SIA. I would never imagine a fic of mine would have its on acronym. Wow. And actual fanart. Double wow. I am so grateful to every single one of you. Your comments keep me motivated to keep up this pace of writing jajaja I’m just really inspired by angst. So now, onto the chapter. 
> 
> Shit is so close to the fan right now...

Blake had forgotten what it was like to be outside. Her time in the mine had felt like an eternity. Her eyes received the darkness as a gift, tired of being exposed to the artificial lights of her prison. It was probably late since there were no other men in sight. Agape was crying. She could hear her over the silence that enveloped them. Yudok turned on a flashlight and pulled on their shackles.

She tried to think of a way out. There was nothing she could do as long as she was chained to the bear faunus. Was Yudok going to keep them that way or was he going to separate them? Blake had to be ready. As soon as those chains fell she was going to jump Yudok. She was glad he didn’t have Aleph’s semblance and could anticipate her attack.

The man led them to what seemed like a large container and brought them inside, locking the door behind them. Click. Both faunus flinched, absolutely terrified, but soon realized Yudok had just turned on the lights. Was that going to be her reaction to every click from now on? Blake looked around the place and shivered. It was mostly empty, except for four metal bars drilled in the walls, chains hanging from them. The place smelled like death.

“Behave” Yudok said, holding the clicker tightly in his hand. He walked towards one of the bars and attached Blake’s shackles to it. “Don’t you dare move, kitten” he threatened. The man started fidgeting with the chain that held them together, separating Agape from her. As soon as he finished Blake readied herself. This was her chance. If Yudok shocked her it would not affect the other girl and if he shocked them both Agape would be able to take it. If she could knock him out they could ran away. They could leave this place. She could see Yang again. Agape turned around to look at her and nodded lightly.

Blake jumped as hard as she could, trying to kick Yudok in the back. She was successful. He gasped and fell on his knees, the clicker falling from his hand. He was clearly not ready to be attacked. Agape took her chance and pulled the chains away from him. Before he could react the bear faunus hit him in the face with her shackles. Yudok fell to his side and stopped moving. Could this be real? Were they really going to…

Click. Click. Click. Click. They both fell to the ground, Agape screaming in pain. Yudok kept pressing the button over and over again. It was nonstop. He had taken advantage of the attack to fall right beside his clicker. When he finally stopped, Blake couldn’t understand how they were still alive.

“YOU TWO THINK THIS IS FUNNY?” he said, yelling at the top of his lungs. His eyes were open wide and the veins on his forehead were popping. The right side of the man’s face, where the chain had hit him. was swollen and bloody. “YOU BITCHES THINK YOU CAN GANG UP ON ME?” he took the whip out of his belt and walked towards Agape. Blake wanted to do something but her body was made of pain. Yudok grabbed the chain and pulled the younger girl towards the back of the container, where Blake couldn’t reach.

“I was planning on having a blast with the boys but you know what? You don’t even deserve that” Click. Agape yelled. Blake readied herself for the shock. Nothing happened. Yudok was clearly focused on the younger girl. “I’m going to show you what real pain is. You made me bleed, bitch. Now I’m going to fucking kill you”.

\-------------

Yang called Ironwood even if she was furious at him. Blake was her priority. She asked for transport that would get her down to Mantle and told him to have some troops ready to enter the Staub mine. He knew where it was and it made Yang uneasy. If he knew about this place how was it possible he wasn’t aware of what happened there? How much did he actually know about the situation down in the mines? Was he hiding something? Yang couldn’t stop but wonder if she could really trust him. But those doubts could wait. She was so fucking close the finding Blake. She was glad it was RSER that had her girlfriend and not SDC. That would have complicated things even more.

Ruby and the rest of the team wanted to come with her but she refused. She wanted to be as stealthy as possible and, being honest, she didn’t want Ruby to see the situation down in the mines. If the bloody room in The Traders hideout was any indicator, then things down in Staub were probably worse. Jaune, however, made a valid point about how his semblance could be useful to help Blake if she was hurt so Yang agreed to have him go with her. Maria offered to fly the airship and Qrow insisted on tagging along. He wanted to be there as emotional support for his niece.

As they flew down to Mantle that very same night no one said a word. Silence hid their fears. Where they too late? Yang looked through the window as the scenario changed from a prosperous city to literal misery. This was so wrong. Atlas was so wrong.

“Yang” Qrow’s voice made her come back to reality. She turned around to face her uncle and saw worry in his eyes. “Be careful, please. Don’t do anything you would regret. Just bring her back”. She knew what he meant and she nodded. Yang didn’t want to fall into the darkness like Adam had but it was becoming increasingly harder to stay true to her principles.

“Yeah” she replied. “I know”

“Ironwood has his troops ready to move in at your signal. These people are going to prison, most likely for the rest of their lives. They are gonna get what they deserve” her uncle added. She didn’t say anything back, only nodded and went back to looking through the window. Qrow sat back down. A part of her mind thought prison was too good for this men. She wanted them to burn in hell. Every single one of them. As they got closer to Mantle, Yang took a deep breath. Her hand started shaking. Her eyes flashed red. 

Don’t kill anyone.


	11. Steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. THERE IS AN SPECIFIC TRIGGER WARNING IN THIS EPISODE. FOR MORE DETAILS LOOK AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER.
> 
> Thanks so much to all the people out there reading SIA. I am so grateful to all of you. I’m still amazed at how many comments I’m getting about this fic. Makes me happy jejeje. Well, without further ado, onto the chapter.

Agape looked up at Yudok, her light blue eyes frozen in absolute fear. He stood over her, his whip in one hand and the clicker in the other. Blake could barely move. Her body was weak from being shocked repeatedly. Still, she raised her head and looked at her friend’s eyes. The bear faunus glanced her way for a second. Blake wanted to say how sorry she was. She wanted to tell her everything was going to be alright. But she wasn’t a liar and they were far beyond giving each other false hope. Yudok kicked Agape in the chin. She fell down, blood dripping from her face.

“Please don’t kill me. I’ll work. Please don’t…” she tried to ask for mercy but was cut short by the impact of Yudok’s whip against her back.

“You are trash” he said, whipping her one more time “And I can dispose of you if I want to. You know how easy it is to get more of you?”.

“Please… I’ll behave” Agape begged weakly. Yudok smiled.

“So sorry, bitch, but I already made up my mind”

TRIGGER WARNING BEGINS

Blake pulled on the chains as hard as she could but it was futile. This couldn’t be happening. She wanted to yell but her throat burned, only a raspy and weak sound leaving her mouth. Agape screamed in pain as the man beat the life out of her and all Blake could do was watch. This was her fault. It was her fucking plan. When the bear faunus stopped moving Yudok walked towards her and grabbed her by the hair, dragging her motionless body out of the container.

TRIGGER WARNING ENDS

“And don’t forget, kitten” he said to Blake “You may be one of our best faunus, but make one more mistake and this could be you next time”

When he left Blake couldn’t even cry.

\-------------

“We are here” Maria said as she landed the airship. They were about a mile south from the mine, surrounded by a thick forest. It was quiet. The only perceivable sounds were the rustling of leaves and the voices of birds. In another life this was probably a very beautiful place. Yang stood up and walked towards the door. Before she could exit she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Stay strong. We’ll be here waiting” Jaune said, a sad smile on his lips, trying to give his friend some kind of reassurance. The blonde turned around and nodded. She tried but was unable to cast any sort of smile in her face. She took a deep breath and left the airship. 

Yang ran like she had never ran before in her life. This was it. She was going to rescue Blake. She was going to bring her back. She remembered Beacon and the feeling of dread as she looked for her partner. So many different scenarios played on her head as she got closer to her goal. What had they done to her? In what state would she find her? What if… What if it was already too late? She tried to stop her mind from drawing any sort of conclusion. She needed to focus. She needed to believe Blake was there and she was alive. Like Jaune said, she needed to stay strong.

Finally, she arrived at Staub. It was dark. Yang looked at her scroll, it was close to midnight so the workers were more than likely asleep. There was a weak light coming from inside the mine and from what seemed to be the living quarters. She could see a couple of large containers a little bit more than a mile away. Yang tried to guess where they would keep the faunus hidden. Where they in one of the precarious buildings? Were they in the mine itself? In the containers? She didn’t have enough time to go check every single place. She had to do this fast. Deep breath. Concentrate.

Yang moved slowly. She didn’t want to ruin the surprise factor. It was all she had. There was no way of knowing what this people would do if they found out she was here. She didn’t want them to hurt Blake even more. She kneeled behind a group of rocks and closed her eyes, focusing on the silence. Inhale. Exhale. Calm down. Listen. Steps. There it was. Steps to her right. She opened her eyes and peeked over the rocks.

It was a man. She couldn’t see his face or his clothes, but she could notice he was holding a flashlight. Yang deduced he was some sort of night watch. Deep breath. He was coming her way. Closer. Closer. This man knew where Blake was, the blonde had no doubt in her mind. She was close, so fucking close to bringing her home. When he was within his reach she attacked. She used her mechanical arm to hold the man by the throat and her free hand to twist one of his arms behind his back. She was successful. He didn’t see her coming.

“What the…” the man said, she choked him before he could see anything else.

“Shut up” Yang whispered in his ear. “You want to live? she asked, the man nodded. “I don’t want to kill you but I will if I have to” the blonde lied, or maybe she didn’t, she wasn’t really sure anymore. “Take me to the faunus”

“What?” he said, his voice as quiet as possible. It almost made her laugh that the man was actually trying to play her.

“Don’t waste my time. I know you have them here” she replied, twisting his arm further into his own back. When he wanted to yell she choked him.

“Okay…” he coughed. “They’re inside the mine”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: Violent character death.


	12. Alive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will specify it. 
> 
> I am overwhelmed by all the love. I am just so grateful to y’all. I’ll keep them chapters coming for you. Oh! If you haven’t seen the illustration @alie-black-cat-ler you are really missing out. Go check it out: https://bit.ly/2C5297o. It made me cry. NOW ONTO THE CHAPTER.

The man led Yang into the mine. The lights were pretty bright and it made her eyes itch a little bit. Were they always on? Was this how they kept the faunus? As they got deeper and deeper into the tunnels, the blonde could feel her heart beating fast. Was she really going to find Blake here? Was this real? Her mind was working so fast, picturing so many different scenarios. Blake had to be there. She had to be alive. There was no way it was too late. She was lost in her thoughts when she realized her hostage had stopped walking. She looked around and felt like throwing up. How was this even real?

“We’re here” the man said. Yang didn’t let him go.

There were cages on both of her sides, carved into the mine itself and covered by thick metal bars. Both of them were locked with large padlocks. Considering the size of the cells there was a clear overpopulation. There had to be around forty faunus in total. They were all dirty, tired, bruised and scared. They stared at her, their eyes big and their bodies slightly trembling. Yang had never believed in the concept of hell but she imagined this was how it would look like. She looked around several times but there seemed to be no sign of Blake. No. Please no. There was no possible way she was too late. She had to be there. She had to be alive.

“Blake?” she asked, her voice sounding more broken than she expected. “Blake, are you here?”

“Miss…” a voice called. She turned around, still holding the man by the neck. It was an older woman. Her voice was almost a whisper. “Are you here to let us out?”

“Yes, I am” she replied. “I’m looking for my girlfriend. She is a cat faunus. She has black hair and yellow eyes”

“Yudok took her and the other girl not that long ago. I don’t know where they went I’m sorry” the woman answered.

“Where did he take her?” she said, choking the man harder. He coughed. There was no point in denying the girl information, he had that clear. If he resisted she would just fuck him up.

“He probably took them to the containers” he said finally. “That’s like his place. He likes to do his things there”. She wanted to ask him what he meant but she had no time for explanations. Blake was so close. Blake was here. She had to hurry. But she had to do something really quick first. Something her girlfriend would want her to do.

“Let them out” she said, pushing the man forward. He fell on his knees and she pointed Ember Celica at his head.

“I don’t have the key!” he revealed “Only Yudok does”

“You are useless” she replied between her teeth and proceeded to kick the man in the back of the head, knocking him out. She turned around to look at the woman who had helped her and softened her gaze.

“Thank you” she said. “Stay put, all of you, help is on the way” with that said she ran out of the mine with all she had. Her legs hurt. They felt like they were on fire but it didn’t matter. She had to get to those containers in time. Without stopping she grabbed her scroll and called Ironwood.

“Move in in two minutes”.

\--------------------------

It didn’t take Yudok long to come back to the container. He didn’t even bother closing the door. He knew there was nothing Blake could do against him now. He was not turning his back on her again. She was on her knees, still chained to the metal bar in the wall. She was done. Agape was dead or she would be pretty soon and there was nothing she could do about it. No one was coming for her. The man walked towards her and kneeled. She didn’t move.

“Are you sad I killed your friend?” he said, holding Blake’s chin and making her look straight at him. He had dark brown eyes and his face was still bloody. He smirked. “I’m so sorry”.

“Fuck you” she mouthed and Yudok laughed.

“Oh dear, we are going to have some fun tonight” he replied, moving a hand under her shirt. She closed her eyes, tried to think of Yang but she couldn’t. All she could think about was Aleph, his weight on her back and his hand on her hair. “That’s a nice kitten” the man whispered in her ear. She wasn’t going to let this happen again without a fight. He was so close to her. Blake made the only move she could think of. She bit him in the cheek with all the strength she had left. Yudok yelped and punched her hard on the head.

“That’s it, bitch!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, putting a hand on his injury. “If you really want to meet your little friend in hell then I’ll do you a favor”.

“Fuck you” she mouthed again. Yudok stood up and whipped her across the face, then on the chest, then on the arm. He stopped and smiled a smile that made her shiver. She was going to die here. “I’m going to shock you so bad you are going to forget your fucking name” he said, pointing the clicker at her. Before he could activate the collar he heard a gunshot and the clicker fell from his hand, broken and useless. Yudok turned around to face whoever had dared doing this to him, his face consumed in anger. He certainly didn’t expect it to be a blonde girl who, from her weapon, was most certainly a huntress.

Yang held her gauntlet up as she looked straight into the man’s eyes. She had no idea what he was holding in his hand but she certainly did not like the way he was using it to threaten her girlfriend. Blake was on the floor and the blonde could feel her amber eyes on her. Deep breath. She didn’t make eye contact. She didn’t want to look at Blake yet because she was certain it would send her over the edge. How was she? What had they done to her? She had done her best not to let her anger get out of control during all her search but now she was so fucking close.

She had to get rid of this man before she murdered him.

“GET AWAY FROM MY GIRLFRIEND!” Yang yelled at the top of her lungs.

For Blake timed itself stopped. That was Yang. That was her voice. That was her face. She was here. She had come for her. This wasn’t a dream. For the first time since she was taken she felt relieve in her heart. This was the scenario that she had played so many times on her head to give herself hope. The thought of being rescued had been the only thing keeping her alive. Now Yang was here in front of her, pointing her weapon at Yudok and somehow this was no longer hell.


	13. Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will specify it. 
> 
> Once again thank you so much for reading. It means a lot to have your support. I think this is the longest chapter yet. I’ve put a lot of effort in this one. I’ve read it over and over again trying to make sure it conveys everything I need it to. I know its been 12 chapters building up to this so I had to get it right. I hope y’all like how it turned out. HERE IT COMES.

Yang stared at Yudok with red eyes and he could feel his life being in danger. Still, he was just too fucking angry to think clearly. He took a step towards the blonde, his hand moving slowly towards the whip in his belt. She didn’t budge, didn’t move. Her fist was still pointed at him. The man gritted his teeth and the veins in his forehead popped up in rage.

“Who the fuck are you?!” Yudok asked, upset at the intromission. His face still hurt where Agape had hit him.

“Get away from her” the blonde repeated with a voice so full of hatred and anger it made her own head hurt. Her mechanical arm shifted into combat mode, Ember Celica still aimed at his head. Yudok raised his whip. Was he fucking kidding? Did he really think he could defend himself with a whip? Yang lowered her weapon and walked towards him. “Hit me” she said. “Do it”.

Give me an excuse to kill you.

“Fuck you” the man said, clenching his teeth together and launching an attack. She wanted to get hit. She wanted to take damage so that she could just kill him with her semblance. She wanted the man to be strong enough to say it was self defense. Yang raised her left arm to block the whip. It hurt but it wasn’t enough. He wasn’t even a threat to her.

“Weak” the blonde said before she punched the man in the stomach. He fell back against the wall and grunted in pain. She walked towards him and kicked him in the face. Yudok wasn’t unconscious, but he was pretty much done. This was it. Now she could look at Blake. Deep breath.

When their eyes met it was bittersweet. She was so glad she had found her. So absolutely happy that this search was over and she was able to bring her home. Her fear of losing Blake was finally gone. Blake was alive and she was right in front of her. Still, Yang couldn’t help but to think this wasn’t the end. There was a new hell she would have to bring her girlfriend back from. Something had changed. Her eyes were devoid of life and she had marks all over her body. There were so many.

This couldn’t be real. That couldn’t really be Blake. Yang wanted to break down right that second. She thought of every single thing she had done in the last eight days to find her and fixated on every lost minute. If I had ran faster, if I had gone sooner, if I had fucking walked back with her to the house. But she hadn’t, and this was real. That was Blake, chained to a wall, her body broken and her eyes empty but staring at her.

I found you.

She ran to Blake’s side just like she had done when they defeated Adam and embraced her. It was Blake. This was Blake. Blake was in her arms. She felt how the faunus weakly held onto her and cried without making a single noise. She looked so thin, had she eaten anything in the last eight days? Her body was covered in wounds and bruises, most of them pretty significant. She had shackles in her hands and feet and a thick metal collar on her neck. Underneath it Yang could see an open wound. She felt her blood boiling. How could this have happened?

Blake cried her eyes out, holding onto Yang with all her strength, afraid she was going to disappear. She could feel her arms around her and it was like everything else didn’t exist. It was just the two of them like it was always supposed to be. No Traders. No auction. No mine. No pain. Just them and their unspoken love. Just her and her sunshine. She was so dizzy. She was so tired. Her head hurt. Her body hurt. Everything hurt. She wanted to say so many things. She wanted tell Yang she loved her. She wanted to tell her about Agape, maybe they could still do something, maybe they could save her… But she couldn’t speak and her body was made of pain. Yang broke the embrace to look her in the eyes. Everything seemed so blurry. 

“I’m here, Blakey” the blonde said, placing a hand on the other girl’s cheek. “It’s over” she added, moving her thumb to wipe away the tears from the faunus’ face. Her cat ears were flat on her head. Deep breath. Blake looked back at her with shaky pupils. They both leaned in, their foreheads touching.

You found me.

Yang moved away gently and turned to look at the man that had more than likely been beating Blake before she arrived. It took every ounce of self control she had left not to just kill him right then and there.

“You did this to her?” she asked. Yudok didn’t answer. “DID YOU FUCKING DO THIS TO HER?” her scream finally made the man react. His head hurt like fucking hell and the floor was moving. 

“We just got her a few days back and she was already pretty beaten up. The Traders do this sort of thing” he said, trying to excuse himself. He really didn’t want that girl to hit him again. 

Yang looked back at Blake. Most of her recent wounds seemed to have come from a whip: the exact weapon the man had used against her. She gently sat the cat faunus on the floor and walked towards Yudok.

“Do you have the keys to her shackles?” Yang asked, her hands turning into fists so hard her nails began breaking the skin.

“I only have keys to the chains” the man replied “We get them shackled from The Traders and we just never take them off”.

Don’t kill anyone. Breathe. Don’t be like him.

Yudok held the keys in his hand. A part of her was disappointed at his submissive disposition. She wanted him to fight back. Any excuse would do. She just wanted to see him bleed. Yang walked towards the man and took the keys. Not kicking him in the stomach in that moment was one of the hardest things she had ever done. She moved back and unchained Blake from the wall.

The silence that surrounded them was suddenly broken. Ironwood’s men had arrived. She could hear the troops outside moving into the mine. She could hear screams. She could hear gunshots. She took a deep breath. Taking a human life was not something she had ever pictured herself doing. When she and Blake had to finish off Adam it was because he gave them no other choice. He wasn’t leaving and he was strong. Yang was secretly glad he was so fucking stubborn. Now he was gone. But this man was different. He had given up so easily, and he was fucking weak. All of his authority came from torture. He had no strength of his own. 

“There are Atlas troops outside so you can turn yourself in. I’m going to let you go so you better run. Do you understand?” she said, without even looking at the man. If she looked at him she would lose it. 

“What?”

“I am so close to killing you. You have no fucking idea how much effort I’m putting in not ending your life right this second. I really don’t want to resource to that so just... Leave” she said, her voice low and intimidating.

“Okay” Yudok replied, visibly scared. He ran right past her and out of the container. She took a deep breath and went back to her girlfriend. Without saying anything she carried the faunus bridal style and began walking to the exit. The shackles were probably heavier than Blake. Yang was doing such an effort not to lose her temper and just kill all the workers in that hellhole. Deep breath. She had to focus on Blake. Ironwood’s men would get those bastards and they would spend the rest of their lives in prison, like Qrow said, paying for what they had done. Before Yang noticed, Blake had fallen asleep in her arms, her breath weak but still present.

“What have they done to you?” she said, kissing her girlfriend’s forehead. As she walked out of the mine she could see the Atlas military taking the workers into custody and rescuing the enslaved faunus from the mine. Yudok was on his knees, a gun pointed at his head. A part of her hoped he would try to ran away and the troops would kill him. Deep breath. She tried not to look at them. She focused on walking back to the airship, back to her friends.

When they saw her coming back from within the trees with Blake in her arms, Maria, Qrow and Jaune felt relieved and happy. However, their celebration was cut short when they realized the state the faunus was in. Her hands and feet shackled. Her body so full of bruises and injuries that it was hard to find a spot that was unharmed. She looked so broken. No one said anything as Yang climbed back on the airship and sat down, still holding Blake close. The airship took off.

“You did it, kiddo” Qrow said, putting a hand on her shoulder. She nodded.

“But I think I was too late”. He wanted to say something reassuring but was that even possible? He looked at Blake, her eyes closed and her head against his niece’s chest. Maybe they were late after all. He sat back down, wishing he had alcohol at hand.

Yang held Blake close to her, like she was afraid someone was going to take her away. She looked out the window as they flew back to Atlas and saw the military airships leaving Staub. The faunus there had been rescued but she knew there were many others down there in those conditions. Many others like Blake that had been taken from their homes and sold like they were objects. She looked at her girlfriend and felt the tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Her face was bruised black and blue.

“Yang?” a voice called. She turned around to see Jaune walking towards them, a sad smile on his lips. When he was close enough he placed a hand on Blake’s arm, his aura slowly enveloping her. Some scratches started healing but most of her wounds were not even affected.

“I think her aura is too weak to be amplified” he said in a whisper, still holding onto his friend’s arm. “But I’ll keep trying”.

“Thank you, Jaune” was all the blonde could reply without breaking down. How much damage had this people done to Blake? Would she ever be the same again?

Yang wished, for a moment, that she had actually killed them all.


	14. Maybe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will specify it. 
> 
> THANKS SO MUCH to everyone reading SIA. Your comments fuel me to keep on writing. It means a lot hearing your opinions and knowing that you like this crazy story of mine. ONTO THE CHAPTER!
> 
> There is NEW fanart of SIA so here are some links: https://bit.ly/2NXnrZs - https://bit.ly/2TI1bYK - https://bit.ly/2F4DVMD   
> THANKS to all this artists that decided this fic was forth their time and effort. LOVE Y'ALL :D

When the airship landed, Blake woke up startled. Her body started shaking. Her eyes could not adjust to the light and she didn’t know where she was. The last thing she remembered was Yudok punching her in the side of the head. Then it was just a blur. She was so dizzy.

“Blake” someone called her name in a voice that sounded way too familiar. “Its okay. It's me”. The alluded one turned around to see lilac eyes looking at her with the uttermost concern. Her body ceased shaking as she remembered what had happened. This was Yang. Yang had found her. Yang had rescued her from hell. Blake leaned her head against the crook of the blonde’s neck and took a deep breath. Yang’s smell was so soothing. This was her safe place. Nothing could go wrong here. She could feel the other girl’s heartbeat against her ear. Yang hugged her lightly.

“It’s over” she whispered. 

Blake closed her eyes tight and the image of Agape came to her. Yudok beating the life out of her. Was she dead? A part of her wanted to believe that somehow her friend had survived. She opened her eyes as a question popped up in her mind. What had happened to all the other faunus in the mine? She sat up, looking Yang deep in her eyes, a look of concern in them. The blonde quickly understood and nodded, needing no words to get what the other one was worried about.

“The rest of the faunus were rescued by the military. There’s no one left in Staub”. She found some sort of relief in Yang’s words. All those faunus were finally out of hell. They were finally free. She expected no less from her partner. Blake smiled weakly through all the pain and sadness.

“We are going to go to the military hospital to get you checked out. Okay?” the blonde asked. Blake nodded in response. Yang was confused. Why wasn't she talking back to her? Now that she remembered, she hadn't heard Blake's voice back at Staub either. She thought it was just the shock but why wasn't she talking now?

“What’s the matter?” Yang asked finally, confused at Blake’s silence. The faunus lowered her gaze. She didn't know how the blonde would react to the truth. She could imagine her face, twisted into absolute horror and concern when she learned what The Traders had done to her. She should just get it over with. Blake lowered her ears and pointed at the badly healed wound on her neck. She opened her mouth and a raspy indistinguishable noise came out. 

The realization hit Yang like a fucking truck. 

The Traders had done something to Blake to prevent her from speaking. Not only had they starved her, beaten her, humiliated her and sold her like cattle. No. They had left her mute.

“You can’t speak?” a voice asked. It was Jaune, walking towards them. He had tried his best to heal Blake with his semblance but had to give up after a while. Her aura was so weak it was impossible to amplify any further. He felt useless. All he could do was heal little scratches.

“From that scar I’d say they cut her vocal cords” Maria added, leaving the cockpit and moving towards Blake. She inspected the wound on her neck. They had closed it with so little care the skin had started to cover the sutures. It looked infected. “I saw this long ago in a friend of mine. He was a faunus too and had escaped from slavers. I didn’t think this was still going on. This is just… Wrong”.

Yang wanted to break something. She wanted to see the world burn. They had cut Blake’s vocal cords. They had silenced her so she wouldn’t scream as they tortured her. How sick were this people? What else had Blake endured in those fucking eight days? She should have just killed them all. Beat them until they bled and then set them on fire.

This couldn't be happening.

She was never going to hear Blake’s voice again. She’d never hear her say her name again in that sweet and loving way she had started getting used to. She’d never hear her say I love you. Yang wanted to believe it was possible to bring Blake back from the darkness but what was she supposed to do about this? Every second she was alive and couldn’t speak was a reminder of her time in hell. This was something she could not rescue her from.

“We’ll talk to Ironwood” Qrow proposed. “Maybe his people can find a way to help her”.

Maybe, a word that said so much but also so little. Yang looked Blake in the eyes. She loved her so much. She had to believe things would get better. Maybe, Qrow had said and it echoed in her head. She would hold on to that maybe with all she had. There had to be a way to help her. There had to be a way back to normal.

“So, let’s get going. The military hospital is a short walk away” Maria said, leaving the airship.

Yang held Blake close to her chest and stood up, the shackles in the faunus’ feet making a metallic noise as they rubbed against each other. She had to get her out of those fucking things. It was so hard to believe the faunus had been wearing them for eight days. Her ankles and wrists had blood coming from under the metal that covered them.

Blake leaned against the blonde’s chest, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She needed to think Yang was the only other existing person in the world. That was the only way she could feel something close to peace as they walked out into the street. 

\----------------

They took Blake away when they arrived at the hospital. Yang didn’t want to let her go but the doctors could do more than her in that moment. They had to stabilize her and run tests to see the extent of the damage and how to treat her. She was sitting in the waiting room with Jaune, Qrow and Maria. The rest of the team was on it’s way. They hadn’t really told them the whole picture, just that they had found her and where they were. None of them had the strength to tell them how serious Blake’s status was.

Silence. No one dared say a word. What could they say? Give each other hope? Say everything would be alright? They all knew those were lies. Yang sat on the couch, leaning on her knees, her hands holding her head. All she wanted was for a doctor to come and tell her the truth. She wanted to know how bad things were. She wanted to be able to help.

“Yang!” Ruby called as she walked into the waiting room, Weiss, Nora, Ren and Oscar behind her. The alluded one didn’t even budge so she moved closer and called her once more. “Yang”. 

“Hey” the blonde replied, moving her head upwards to look at her sister. She didn’t know what to say. 

“Any news on Blake?” Nora asked. Qrow moved his head sideways.

“Not yet” he replied. “They are still stabilizing her”.

“How is she?” Ren said, the only one brave enough to make the question they all wanted answered but didn’t dare ask themselves. It took several seconds before someone replied.

“She’s in pretty bad shape” Yang explained and somehow her words seemed like an understatement. “She couldn’t really tell us what happened to her because they cut her vocal cords. She can’t speak”.

“What?” Weiss exclaimed. “Are you serious? I… I don’t… That’s just horrible”. She thought of her father, untouched by the law and buying faunus from The Traders to work in his mines. No wonder the White Fang had been after them for so long. She felt ashamed of her own last name. Ashamed that there was a time she ever thought the faunus were not her equals. How dare she resent them when humans did this sort of thing?

The room fell silent. All of them trying to process what had just been said. Ruby sat down next to her sister and placed a hand on her shoulder. Yang looked up to meet Ruby’s silver gaze. 

“You brought her back” she said. “You found her”. There was so much pain in the blonde’s eyes that Ruby wanted to cry. They had all been so worried about Blake since she went missing. Finding out what had happened to her was both heartbreaking and infuriating. If the way her sister looked was any indicator, things were very serious. 

“Are you Blake Belladonna’s family?” a male voice asked. A young doctor had made his way into the waiting room. Yang stood up so fast she got a head rush.

“Yes. I’m her girlfriend” she said and it surprised no one. The doctor took off his glasses and massaged the bridge of his nose with his fingers before speaking.

“I’m doctor Yu, I’m her main doctor. We’ve stabilized her. She’s not in any immediate danger” he said. Yang didn’t relax at the statement. She knew better by now. “However...”. There it was. “...Her recovery is going to take some time. She has several broken ribs and deep wounds where the shackles used to be. The thing in her neck was some sort of shock collar and it caused a severe burn that got infected. Her body is weak from dehydration. We have her on antibiotics and...”

“What about her voice?” Weiss asked, interrupting the doctor and walking towards Yang. He moved his head sideways.

“Before we can even think of doing any corrective surgery we need to heal everything else. The damage to her vocal cords is… extensive”.

“Can we see her?” Ruby asked.

“She’s gonna be out for a while. We need her to rest until her aura can start helping with the healing process…”

“Can we see her?” Ruby repeated. The doctor looked at everyone in the waiting room. They all had concerned looks on their faces. That was for sure a large family. He nodded.

“Follow me”.


	15. Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will specify it. 
> 
> I DID IT, GUYS! I’m kinda proud of myself for finishing this jajajaja. Like I said I never upload unless I have finished the FOLLOWING chapter so I had to finish ch16 to publish this one and I pulled and all nighter (it that how it is written?) :P I’ll try to keep uploading at a good pace. My life is kinda cramped and busy right now but there is always time for Bumbleby. Always. NOW ONTO THE CHAPTER!

Blake looked so small lying in her hospital bed. Her eyes were tightly closed and her face spoke of pain. She had bandages on her neck and her wrists. The rest of her body was covered by white hospital bed sheets. She was bruised all over. There were wires coming out of her like roots, connecting her to several medical machines that kept track of her vital signs. The beeping sound of the heart monitor was steady and it gave Yang a sense of peace. Blake was alive.

“We’ll keep her asleep for a couple of days” the doctor said as they walked inside the room. With all of them there it was kinda crowded but he didn’t mind. He’d never had a case like this so regular protocols were pretty much out the window. “It will allow her aura to recuperate and help with the healing”.

They all stared in silence. The sight was heartbreaking. None of them could believe that actually was their friend and teammate. It wasn’t fair. Blake was strong and brave and kind and it made no sense that somebody would do something like this to her. After everything they had gone through, after all the people they had helped this was how Atlas had repaid them.

Thanks for trying to save the world, here’s your broken friend.

Weiss stared at the bed, her eyes wide open in disbelief. She had tried to imagine how Blake would look when they found her, she tried to be ready. She wasn’t. There was nothing that could prepare her for all the thoughts that were racing through her mind. Every single wound and bruise in Blake’s body had been caused by someone on purpose. Someone that thought it was okay to do so. She had been tortured horribly just for being a faunus. What had she gone through? What had she seen?

This was sick.

“Oh, Blake, I’m so sorry” Weiss said, her voice breaking the silence. She took a hand to her mouth and felt her body shake. It didn’t take long for tears to appear. How could this have happened to her friend? The former heiress could not stop thinking about how her family’s heritage was built on the exploitation of the faunus. How many others had gone through this? How many others were never rescued? Ruby hugged her and she let herself break down. The silver eyed girl wanted to cry too, but she had to remain strong for her team. For her friend. For her sister. She looked at the bed and couldn’t help but to wonder if things would ever go back to normal.

Would Blake ever be the same?

No one said anything else. The only sound in the room, besides the machines, were Weiss’ cries. Jaune looked down, feeling useless after failing to help the faunus with his semblance. Nora held onto Ren as she closed her eyes, not wanting to see what was in front of her. He looked up, tears pooling in the corners of his eyes. Oscar didn’t even enter the room, the sight from outside was too much for him. Qrow just wanted a drink to forget for a second all of this had actually happened.

Yang walked towards the bed, pulled up a chair and sat down. This was going to be her place from now on. Until Blake was healed she was going to stay next to her. Whatever it took to bring her back from the darkness. She had rescued her from the mine but she knew right then and there that was just the beginning. She took one of the faunus’ hands in hers and closed her eyes. Blake was here. Blake was alive and that would have to be enough for now.

\---------

Yang paced around the room while the scroll made the call. What was she going to say? How could she put into words what had happened? A part of her wanted it to go to voicemail. It would be easier. She could just tell them and be done with it. Have someone else answer if they called back. That would be great, then she wouldn’t have to hear their voices when she broke their hearts. Why were communications being restored just now? She wished silently they would go down again before the call connected.

“Hello” a female voice answered. This was it. Deep breath. No turning back.

“Hi, is this Kali Belladonna?” she asked. Of course it was her. This was her number. How much of an idiot was she?

“Yes, it’s me” the woman answered . She sounded so nice, so happy. How could she be doing this to her?

“Hey, I’m Yang. I’m Blake’s... teammate” she said, choosing no to call her “girlfriend”. That was a complete different talk they would have later. That is if they ever wanted to talk to her again. Back at Mistral she met them very briefly, but she had imagined having a very good relationship with them. She imagined Blake officially introducing her as her as her girlfriend, both of her parents smiling at her, feeling happy they had found each other in the midst of this war. Now that scenario was gone. There was no way it would happen after what she was about to do. 

“Oh, hi, dear” Kali replied. “Is everything okay with Blake?” she asked, her voice taking a concerned tone.

“Could you call your husband, please?” her voice started to break.

“What happened?” she asked again, a crack in her voice.

“Please, I need to tell you both” Yang replied, trying her best no to give away how serious her message was. She failed.

“What’s the matter? What’s happened to my daughter?” the woman said, her voice now clearly altered. When the girl didn’t reply she yelled at her husband. “Ghira!” she called. “Come here, dear!”. Yang felt like choking on her tongue. There was no running away from this. She was going to tell them the truth. She could hear Blake’s dad getting close.

“What is the matter?” the man asked.

“Blake’s teammate is on the phone...Something happened to her” Kali replied. There was a brief silence before Ghira reacted.

“WHAT?!” he exclaimed. “Is she all right?”. Deep breath. Speak. Say something. Anything. 

“She is out of danger now but… A couple of days after arriving to Atlas, Blake was walking back to the place we are staying in and she…” Yang’s hand started shaking. Just say it. Get it over with. It’s not gonna get any easier. Deep breath. “She was kidnaped. I don’t know if you are familiar with The Traders. They are a group that…”

“THE TRADERS?!” Ghira’s voice interrupted her. “No… Not my Blake. Please. No”

“What’s going on? Who are this people?” Kali asked, clearly not as aware as her husband about the situation.

“What did they do to her?” he asked. Yang wanted to die. She wanted to disappear. She should have walked back home with her. 

“They… They tortured her. They cut her vocal chords and sold her into slavery down in the mines. I was able to get her out but it took eight days to find her and…” she started crying. There was no going back. “I’m sorry. I am so sorry. She’s in the hospital now. She’s getting better but… I just… I’m sorry”

“How could this happen?” Kali said, her voice trembling. “Not my baby, please”.

“We are flying to Atlas right now” Ghira said. Yang knew this would happen and she was afraid of what his reaction would be when she told him they couldn’t.

“I don’t think that will be possible for now. Atlas is in lockdown. Nobody enters. Nobody leaves” she explained. Kali’s cries were the first thing she heard when she stopped talking.

“We’ll find a way” Blake’s father said. “I can’t believe this. How could you all let that happen to her?” there was so much anger in his voice. Yang felt like shit. She wanted Ghira to punch her in the face. She deserved it. How could she let this happen to Blake? If she hadn’t been such a hothead maybe all of this wouldn’t have happened. If she had listened to her and hadn’t lashed out at those racist idiots they wouldn’t have had that fucking argument. Now all she could do was say she was sorry.

“Is she awake?” Kali said, her voice weak.

“Not right now” the blonde replied. “They’ve given her a lot of meds for the pain. They say she needs to sleep a lot so her aura can heal her better. She’s being treated by the best doctors here”.

“Could you call us when she wakes up?” the woman asked.

“I will”

“Okay” Ghira said before finishing the call. Yang remained still, the scroll still pressed against her ear. It was done. Blake’s parents knew what had happened and there was no turning back. She tried to imagine how they felt, knowing their daughter had gone through hell. They had just gotten her back after everything with the White Fang and Adam and now... Yang placed the scroll back in her pocket and sat down on the couch. Deep breath. She covered her face with her hands and tried to control herself from breaking down.

Why did she choose to do this herself?


	16. Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will specify it. 
> 
> I really didn’t think I’d be uploading today but found some time (thanks insomnia) to finish the next chapter so I could publish this one. We are moving slowly in the story because there are a lot of aspects I want to cover but I promise things will speed up soon. Thanks so much for the support, guys, it means a lot. Let’s get through this hiatus together jajaja

After her conversation with Blake’s parents, Yang walked back into the hospital room feeling defeated. She looked around. Nothing had changed. The faunus was still asleep, her face frozen in a permanent frown, the scar on her neck a reminder of her silence. They were alone. The others had gone back to the house to get some rest. They were all tired and still processing what had happened. Qrow, however, stayed in the waiting room, half asleep in an impossibly uncomfortable couch. He wanted to keep an eye on his niece and be there if she or Blake needed anything.

Yang was tired. She hadn't really had any rest in the last eight days and she was starting to feel it. Her body was heavy and her head hurt. She walked towards the bed and was about to sit down on her chair when a voice caught her by surprise. 

“Ms. Xiao Long?” she turned around. It was Doctor Yu. Yang looked at him like it was the first time. Back in the waiting room she hadn’t even seen him as a person, only as a source of information about Blake’s status, so she barely noticed anything about him. Now she took her time. This was the man that was treating Blake and she needed to know if she could trust him. He was supposed to be one of the best doctors in the entire hospital. Yu was young, not much older than she was, his skin was dark and he had long brown hair. His eyes were green and they looked kind. “Were you able to reach Ms. Belladonna’s parents?”

“Yeah” she replied, not feeling ready to actually explain what had happened in the call. She could still recall the sound Kali’s heart made when it broke.

“I expect they won’t be able to get here due to the lockdown” the blonde nodded and a part of her was somehow glad they couldn’t come. If talking on them through the phone had been so excruciatingly painful she could only imagine what seeing them in person was going to be like. She needed time to prepare for that. The doctor looked down for a moment. “I see… There is something we need to discuss. You and Ms. Belladonna are in a relationship, am I right?”.

“Yes”

“Would you follow me to my office, please?” he asked. Yang looked at Blake. She didn’t want to leave her side again. The doctor looked at her and understood. “I think it will be better if we talk about this somewhere else. She needs peace” he added, looking at the bed. Yang felt the worst kind of anticipation. 

\---------------

Doctor Yu remained silent. They had entered the office and sat down a while ago but he was yet to say anything. He was looking through some documents and Yang assumed they were Blake’s test results. She didn’t look at the papers, her eyes were fixated on her own hands. She had scratches on her fingers, probably from punching that man back at the mine. Her eyes threatened to go red at the mere thought of his face. He was a piece of trash and he had hurt Blake. Maybe she should have just killed him. Nobody would have known.

Doctor Yu placed the papers in front of him and coughed lightly, capturing her attention. He smiled gently and took a deep breath. He was getting prepared to say something terrible, she could feel it in her bones. Yang braced herself for yet another fall. 

“When Ms. Belladonna arrived here yesterday we ran several tests to determine the extent of her injuries. We will need to talk to her about what happened once she wakes up, but thanks to these exams we have some level of understanding of what happened to her.” he explained. The blonde didn’t like where the conversation was going.

“Is her life in danger?” Yang asked, fearing they had done something to Blake that could actually kill her.

“It is definitely not” he said and she relaxed a little bit. “But there is something you should know”.

“What is it?”

“There is no easy way to say this so I will be as direct as possible, okay?” she nodded. It was better like this. She just wanted to know. “Some of her injuries are consistent with sexual assault. It is not something conclusive, doesn’t seem like it was something that happened more than once and some time passed and well…” he scratched the back of his head. There was never an easy way to say things like this. “This injuries could also be a consequence of the beatings to which she was subjected but we have to consider that maybe...”

“Blake was raped?” the words left her mouth before she processed their meaning. Once they did she could hear them in her head over and over again. Her own voice turned into a stranger as she tried to grasp what the doctor had just said. A possibility, he called it. Her mind started working on its own and she couldn’t control her own rage from drawing all sorts of conclusions. If it had actually happened, was it in the mine? Was it in The Traders hideout? Who had done it? Who did she have to kill?

Her eyes went red.

“Like I said, Ms. Xiao Long we have no way of being sure right now. Still, I think it is an scenario we should consider. Her recovery is going to take a long time and I don’t mean just her physical health”.

“I know” she replied. “I saw the place where they had her”. He could only imagine what she meant and it made him shiver.

“I will do my best to help Ms. Belladonna. It is my promise as her main doctor.” he said, looking the young woman in the eyes. He had noticed they changed color when she was upset. Yu felt really bad about everything that was happening. All of the faunus that had been brought back from Staub were in terrible conditions and would need extensive medical care. However, it was clear to him that their captors had been especially violent towards Blake. He was going to help, even if several doctors in the hospital were refusing to do so. He was no fucking racist. He cared for life.

“Ok” she said she stood up. “Thanks, doctor”

Yang walked out of the office without even hearing if the man replied to her. Her mind was going so fast she couldn’t even understand her own thoughts. This was too much. She had remained calm for so long. She had done her best not to lose her grip but right now she just wanted to burst. She needed to hit someone. She needed to fight. She needed to do something with the rage that was building up inside her of she would explode. Yang left the hospital and started walking with no real direction. She had to breathe. She had to calm down. She was walking fast, her eyes red and her hands turned into fists and she could taste blood in her mouth as she bit hard on the inside of her cheeks.

“Hey, blondie” a voice called and it brought her back to reality. She was in a dark alley and there were two men looking at her. How far away from the hospital had she walked? This seemed like a completely different part of the city.

“Why are you so mad?” one of them asked laughing. Yang didn’t stop to think and just punched him in the face. She was far beyond mantras. She was beyond breathing. She just wanted blood.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” the man yelped as he held his bloody nose. She looked at him and felt relief in his pain.

“You are in trouble” the other one threatened as he swung at her. She evaded it and kicked him in the stomach. The man fell to the ground, coughing and trying to catch his breath. She stood there and watched them, hoping they would try to attack her again. They didn’t.

“You are fucking crazy, bitch” the man she had punched in the face spat at her. He took his friend’s hand, pulling him from the ground. Without breaking eye contact with her they started backing away slowly. Yang took a single step towards them and that was all it took. Both men turned around and started running.

She was left there, alone in the darkness of an empty alley. She punched the brick wall in front of her with her left hand. Once. Twice... She hit it until she could no longer sense anything else but pain and, even then, she kept it up. Yang could feel the bones in her hand breaking but it didn’t matter. She needed to get all of the anger out of her before it killed her or before she killed someone else. When she finally stopped she could see her own blood dripping down the bricks. Her eyes went back to lilac and she fell to her knees.

She should have walked back to the house with her.


	17. Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will specify it. 
> 
> Hello, guys! I’ve been really, really busy these past few weeks so I haven’t had much time to write :( Things will keep up like this for now so I’ll probably upload twice a week for a while. I’ll try to make them chapters a bit longer. Thanks for the support and the love.

Yang spent the following two days in the hospital, rarely leaving Blake’s side. Her left hand had to be put in a cast. She had broken two fingers in her fit of rage. The rest of the team would visit and call, but they had other things to handle. In spite of everything that had happened since they had arrived at Atlas, the truth was Salem was still a threat and they had to do something about it. Ruby told Yang not to worry and to focus on being there for her girlfriend. She, of course, agreed. The world could crash and burn for all she cared and she’d still be there, waiting for Blake to wake up.

Doctor Yu would come check the faunus’ vital signs every once in a while and Yang found herself actually liking the man. He was always kind to her and tried his best to smile. It really seemed like he cared. Other members of the hospital staff, however, had a very different view on all the faunus that were currently in the medical facilities. She had overheard nurses commenting on how some of the doctors were refusing to treat them. It seemed unbelievable to her that medical professionals could be so inconsiderate even after seeing what Staub had done to the faunus.

“That’s her” she overheard someone said as she walked back to Blake’s room one late afternoon. It was probably one of the interns. Yang was pretty sure most of the people in the hospital knew who she was. Whenever she walked the hallways she’d hear whispers. She tried not to pay any attention to them, knowing that if she heard an offensive comment she would probably end up punching someone in the face and that wasn’t in her plans. At least not anyone in this place.

“Yeah” someone else replied “That’s the cat’s girlfriend”. Deep breath. Keep walking. She held a bag in her hand firmly and she concentrated on it’s weight to avoid thinking too much about what she had just heard. At least it wasn’t an insult. She was, after all, the cat’s girlfriend, even if she didn’t quite like when they called Blake that way. She entered the room, left the bag in a small table near the entrance and took out its contents: three books. There was a library in the first floor of the hospital and, even if reading had never been one of her interests, Yang found it was a good way to make time pass faster. She bought a couple of novels and a book she thought could help Blake later on. The blonde took one of them and sat down on her chair.

She was about halfway through “The Loss of One” by Gregory Adens when she started falling asleep. It was late. She snored and felt small tears at the edges of her eyes. She should try to get some rest. Yang put the book away and turned off the lights. She scooped her chair closer to the bed and got comfortable. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, concentrating on the heart monitor. Blake’s here. She’s alive.

About an hour later Blake woke up with no idea of where she was. Her eyes shot open and a scream died in her throat. It was dark and it frightened her. She recalled her days in The Trader’s hideout, alone in that fucking room and losing sense of time. Aleph’s face flashed in her mind. She shivered and took both hands to her neck. The collar was gone. The shackles were gone. Blake started panicking. She could hear a beeping noise getting faster by the second. She tried to sit up but her body wasn’t really agreeing with her. She looked at her side and that was when she remembered.

Yang was asleep, half her body resting on the bed. Just the sight of her started calming the faunus down. It was over. She had been rescued. Blake touched the blonde’s hair gently and saw her eyes moving before they opened. They stared at each other for a second.

“Blake” was all Yang managed to say as she practically jumped up to embrace the other girl, one hand on her lower back and the other one on the back of her head. They held each other with all they had, like they were holding together the pieces of a broken vase. They cried in silence, one of them because she had no voice and the other because she couldn’t find hers. Blake thought of her time with the Traders and her time in the mine, hoping Yang would find her and bring her back. She thought of her message, scraped into the floor of her prison. She thought of Agape. She didn’t even know how long she had been missing. It felt like forever. She buried her face in the crook of Yang’s neck and took a deep breath. Her safe place. 

“I’m so sorry” the blonde whispered. “I should have stayed with you”. Blake broke the embrace gently to look into Yang’s eyes. There were so many things she wanted to say. She wanted to thank her. She wanted to say she loved her. She wanted Yang to know the thought of her had kept her alive in hell. But she couldn’t speak. There was, however, something she could try. Something she feared she’d die without doing. Blake placed a hand on her girlfriend’s cheek, smiled, and leaned in. Yang met her halfway, their lips crashing together.

They kissed and it felt like putting together the pieces of a puzzle. It was just natural. Electricity ran through their bodies or at least that was how it felt like. Yang moved her right hand to hold the side of Blake’s waist as they deepened the gesture. She knew at that moment they were made to kiss each other and nobody else. Why would they? Nothing was going to feel like this. Everything was so wrong but somehow it was also perfect.

This wasn’t the way Yang had pictured their first kiss. She thought it would be on a date, maybe a dance in Atlas or just on a regular day, cuddling and playing around. She would have never guessed it would be in a hospital room, Blake connected to machines and with bandages all over. However, in spite of everything, it felt great. It felt right.

Blake thought she would die without kissing her, without ever been allowed to love her dragon. Every day she fell asleep in hell she dreamed of this girl. The girl who made the sun shine brighter and the breeze feel gentler. The girl who gave sense to everything. The girl who felt like home. Yang. Now she was here and she was feeling the warmth of her lips against hers and it the most beautiful thing in the world. This was it. The love that had remained unspoken was finally brought out into the light. She just wished she had a voice to say the words as well.

When they broke apart they leaned their forehead together as a reflex and looked into each other’s eyes. Their breaths synchronized, both a little agitated after the kiss. Blake’s face was no longer covered in bruises and Yang’s eyes were soft and kind again and for a second the world was not sick and twisted and it was just them, their hearts beating together in the almost silence of a hospital room, Blake’s heart monitor the only audible sound.

They remained motionless for a while, processing what had just happened. Blake was the first one to move. She had just noticed Yang’s left hand was in a cast. She looked back at her, concern in her eyes. Had she gotten injured in her rescue?

“I punched something wrong” the blonde lied, not wanting to admit what had actually happened. “It’ll be fine in a week or so”. Blake took the injured hand and brought it to her lips, kissing it once over the cast. Yang blushed. “I have to go get the doctor” she added, suddenly remembering they were in a hospital. “I have to tell him you woke up, okay?” Blake nodded in response. It was late and the room was dark so Yang walked towards the door and turned on the lights.

Click.

Blake could feel the pain in her body even if the collar was gone. She hugged herself as the tremors appeared, her eyes wide in absolute terror. Her mouth was open as if she was trying to scream but only a raspy noise could be heard.

“What happened?” Yang asked as she ran back to her side. “Blake, are you okay?”. She wasn’t. Her blood felt like it was on fire. It took about ten seconds for her to calm down, her body slowly coming to the realization she hadn’t actually been shocked. When her breathing came back to normal she looked at Yang. The blonde was staring at her with wide open eyes, not fully understanding what had happened. Doctor Yu said Blake wasn’t in any danger but that reaction said otherwise. “Are you in pain?”

“No” the faunus mouthed as she thought of a way to explain what had happened. The light switch had sounded like the clicker. Her body had reacted just like it had back in Staub and with Aleph. She pointed at the ceiling.

“The light?” Yang asked. “The light hurts your eyes?” Blake moved her head sideways.

“Sound” she mouthed as she pointed to one of her ears. 

“The sound?” Blake nodded and pointed to the wall next to the door. “The sound of the light switch?” she nodded again and pointed to her neck. Yang recalled the metal collar and the deep wound under it from when she had rescued the faunus. Doctor Yu had said it was a shock collar. It made sense. A similar sound would trigger a similar reaction. “It sounded like that. The thing they used for the collar”.

“Yes” the black haired girl mouthed. She felt so weak admitting a simple sound was all it took to break her down like that. The pain was too real, even if the electricity wasn’t there. She looked down at her hands. Her wrists were bandaged but she could still feel the weight of the shackles. 

“Hey” the blonde said, using her right hand to hold Blake’s chin and make her look up. “It’s going to be okay, baby. Well get through this” she smiled and pecked her on the lips. 

“Thank you” the faunus mouthed in response. In all the darkness that was Atlas there was a small light, a fire that grew stronger every time she looked at Yang. It made her feel like there was a way out of this, that somehow they would make it through together again.


	18. Awake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will specify it. 
> 
> SO YEAH HERE IT IS :D Took a bit longer than expected because it’s been very busy days. I broke my rule of not publishing the chapter until the next one is done so now I am writing and posting as I write. Two updates a week still seem managable though :D Thanks to all the people out there supporting SIA. Means a LOT y’all. And to the haters: thanks for the publicity jajaja. ONTO THE CHAPTER!

Doctor Yu arrived at the hospital shortly after he was called. He had been sound asleep next to his wife when his scroll woke him up. As soon as he heard the word “Blake” he stood up and began dressing himself. Yang was really glad he was so committed to her girlfriend’s case. She really didn’t want any other doctor to see her. When she learned he wasn’t at the hospital she worried there would be no other choice. Seeing the man coming through the door was a relief.

“Good day” Yu said with a smile. It was four in the morning but somehow he looked well rested.

“Hey” Yang said standing up from her bed to shake the doctor’s hand. “Thank you for coming so quickly” the blonde added with a gentle curve on her lips.

“Thank you for calling me” he walked towards the bed slowly, trying not to overwhelm his patient. He had treated her wounds so he knew what she had gone through. “Hello, Ms. Belladonna, I’m doctor Yu, your main doctor. It’s so good to see you awake”. Blake stared at him for a while. He looked kind and it was a sight she had forgotten. Still, she felt uneasy. “I brought this scroll tablet so we can communicate better” he said, holding the object in front of her. She grabbed it. “You just use it to write or draw or whatever you prefer” the faunus nodded in response. “Are you in any kind of pain?”

“Just my head” she wrote.

“Can you move your body comfortably?” she moved her head sideways.

“I feel weak”

Doctor Yu asked several more routine questions before moving on to the physical exam. When he approached Blake to check her eyes she flinched back with a terrified look on her face. Yang stepped in, kneeling next to the bed and holding her hand.

“Baby, it’s okay” she said. “Doctor Yu is the best. He just wants to help”. Blake looked her girlfriend in the eyes and her breathing came back to normal slowly. When she calmed down she turned to look at the doctor.

“I’m sorry” she mouthed, her ears flat on her head.

“Don’t apologize” he replied “Your reaction is perfectly understandable”

With Yang holding her hand and telling her everything was going to be okay Blake managed to get through the examination. When it was done the doctor was happy to tell them everything seemed to be going fantastically. Her aura was considerably stronger, not completely back but able to help with the injuries. Most of them had already started healing. Her vitals were pretty good as well and they disconnected her from all the machines. 

“I’d like to keep you here until the injury on your neck heals completely” Doctor Yu proposed. “I don’t want that burn to get infected so we need to clean it constantly until the skin grows back”. Blake looked at Yang and they both nodded lightly.

“Okay, doctor” the blonde replied. “We trust you”.

\-----------------

Ruby hugged Blake the minute she walked into the room. Weiss waited behind her to do the same. Just like Doctor Yu, the team had rushed to the hospital as soon as they heard their friend was awake. They were both excited and worried about the challenges she would have to face during her recovery. On the way to the hospital, Nora had admitted she was was feeling uneasy about talking to Blake knowing that she couldn’t speak. The redhead didn’t want to react in any way that would make her friend uncomfortable but it was hard no to be upset or just cry at what had been done to the faunus. Ren told her to hold his hand firmly and smile. Blake needed their support.

“I’m so glad you are awake, kid” Qrow said, gently placing a hand on the girl’s shoulder. She wanted to move away from his touch but managed to control herself. It was Qrow. Nothing bad was going to happen.

“You’re looking better already” Jaune added, smiling. She smiled back. Blake remembered Jaune being in the airship when she was taken from Staub so he knew what he was talking about. She was glad she looked better.

“So, how long are you going to stay here?” Ren asked, holding Nora’s hand firmly in his. She didn’t say anything.

“Doctor Yu wants to keep her here until the wound in her neck is fully healed” Yang replied from her chair.

“Makes sense” Ruby said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “If there’s anything either of you need call us” she added looking at her sister. It was pretty self evident Yang wasn’t going to leave this hospital without her girlfriend.

“Thanks, sis” Yang smiled as she looked around the room. She was so glad to have her friends. Her family.

“It is a nice day to be awake” Maria said as she opened the curtains to let the the natural light inside. “The sun’s come out”.

Blake looked outside and she felt the wind hit her face. The sky was blue and cloudless. It was a beautiful sight. When she was captive she forgot how freedom even looked like. She took a deep breath. Her friends were with her and she was healing. The nightmare was over. She opened her mouth to say something, forgetting for a second they had stolen her voice. When no sound came out she remembered she’d never be free of what they had done to her. She looked down.

“Hey, everything okay?” Yang asked, noticing the change in the other girl’s demeanor. Blake nodded as she wrote on the scroll tablet.

“I’m just tired”.

“Well, maybe we should let you rest. It hasn’t even been three hours since you woke up” Weiss said. She was so glad that Blake was getting better. However, she couldn’t stop looking at the bandages on her wrists and neck. There was still a long way to go.

“We’ll get going then. We have a meeting with Ironwood in a couple of hours so we should get ready” Qrow added. The rest of the team seemed to agree with him and started saying their goodbyes. Blake was sad to seem them go but, at the same a time, a little relieved. She wasn’t feeling well enough to interact with so many people at once, even if they were her friends. When they started walking towards the door Jaune stopped to look at the ceiling. 

“Why are the lights on though?” he asked. Now that Maria had opened the window the room was pretty well lit so it seemed unnecessary.

“I’ll get them” Nora said walking towards the wall where the light switch was. Yang didn’t notice what was happening. She was sitting next to the bed staring at Blake as she looked through the window with sad amber eyes. Then they heard it. 

Click.

Blake tried to control herself. She knew it was the light switch. She knew she was no longer wearing the collar. She new she was safe. It didn’t matter. As soon as the click made its way to her ears it was done. Her body reacted on its own even though her mind knew it made no sense. Her blood burned.

“What happened?” Ruby asked, walking back into the room and kneeling besides her sister. Yang held Blake’s hand firmly.

“It’s okay, baby” she whispered in her ear. The girl shivered, an expression of horror captured in her face.

“Is she okay? What happened?” Weiss asked, visibly alarmed.

“She’s having a panic attack” Maria replied. “Everyone just shut up!”

Silence. 

“Breathe” Yang said in a calm tone, looking into Blake’s eyes. The faunus didn’t move. She was paralyzed by fear. The wound in her neck burned. “I’m here. It’s okay”. With those words Blake finally snapped out of it and looked back into lilac eyes. Her breathing started to normalize. Yang moved a hand to cup her cheek.

“What was the trigger?” the old woman asked. One didn’t get to live as much as her without learning a few things about trauma.

“The light switch” Yang said and Nora felt like shit. “They used a shock collar on her and the sound is very similar so it makes her body react”.

“I’m so sorry, Blake I didn’t know…” the redhead tried to apologize but she was interrupted by a calm voice.

“You had no way of knowing” Ren told her holding her hand. She looked at her feet, tears at the corners of her eyes.

“Let’s get going then” Qrow said, leading the team out the door. He didn’t want to make a big deal about what had happened. He felt it would only make the situation more uncomfortable for Blake. He looked at Yang and felt a tug in his heart. She was holding the faunus’ hand as she caressed her hair gently. They had a long way to go before things could be close to normal and he knew his niece was going to suffer. Love did that sort of thing.

“Are you feeling better?” the blonde asked once they were all gone. Blake moved her head sideways and picked up the scroll tablet the doctor had given her.

“I freaked them out” she wrote.

“You didn’t freak them out” Yang replied. “They’re just worried about you”. The faunus looked down. She knew her friends cared for her sincerely and that itself made her feel blessed. And yet the looks of horror in their faces as she came out of the panic attack had made her feel so broken. She used the scroll tablet once more.

“I want to get better”.

“And you will” the blonde said. She knew what dealing with trauma was. She had been chased by dreams of Adam ever since he had cut her arm in Beacon. She recalled how some noises would freak her out, how she would wake up from nightmares sweating and alone. She wasn’t going to let that happen to Blake. This time she was going to be there for her. This time they’d be there for each other.

“Blake” Yang called and the alluded one raised her eyes to look at her. She placed a hand on the back of the faunus’ head and pulled her in for a kiss. Blake closed her eyes and somehow the world was okay. Nothing else mattered but the feeling of lips moving against her own. Yang broke the kiss, moving back abruptly as if she suddenly remembered something. “Have I told you how much I love you?” she said with a look in her eyes that made the faunus’ heart race.

Blake blushed. She knew. A part of her had always known. Sometimes it scared her, knowing Yang cared so much about her. It had put her in danger. It had cost her an arm and yet she was here, saying that she loved her. Blake wanted to say it back. She was so in love. She thought of writing it in the scroll tablet but it felt so empty, so impersonal. How could she say those three words for the first time through a screen? This time it was her that pulled the other one in for a kiss. She promised herself the first thing she would do when she got her voice was telling Yang she loved her.

Ruby and Weiss went back to the hospital after their meeting with Ironwood. They made their way towards Blake’s room but, once there, they couldn’t bring themselves to enter. The picture in front of them was both sad and heartwarming. Blake was asleep in her bed and there was something in her face that seemed peaceful. She looked considerably better than the first time they had seen her in that hospital room. Next to her was Yang, resting in an impossible position on the chair. In her hands she held a book. Ruby thought maybe she had been reading something to the faunus but at a closer look she realized what her sister’s intention actually was. It seemed Weiss noticed at the same time as her. They exchanged a bittersweet look and left, neither of them able to say anything.

The book on Yang’s hands was entitled “Sign language for beginners”.


	19. Normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will specify it. 
> 
> HI THERE! This chapter is the longest one yet. I don’t know if I’ll be able to upload on the weekend so I put an extra effort in this one. There’s a note at the end that I would appreciate you reading AFTER YOU FINISH THE CHAPTER :) THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT :D I really want to know your opinion on this one. ONWARDS!

Yang and Ruby sat on the hospital’s cafeteria. They both had a soft drink in front of them as they tried to talk about anything but tragedy. Ironwood had sent an officer to get Blake’s statement on her kidnaping and protocol stated no one could be in the room with her. Yang made it clear she had no intention of leaving her girlfriend alone with a stranger. Blake, however, told her it was fine and that she would be okay. The officer seemed like a kind woman but the blonde was still feeling uneasy about the whole thing. In the end she obliged and called her sister. Maybe Ruby could help her relax.

“So Weiss told Ironwood that if he didn’t do something about her dad he would regret it” the younger one said with a grin. “We have very good hints about the relic and it seems Ozpin is coming back slowly. He’s been giving Oscar some advice. We still don’t know if we can fully trust him but we need him”

“That is good to hear” Yang replied. “Not about Ozpin though” she laughed a bit. She was going to have a hard time making peace with the fact her former principal had lied to them but she knew Ruby was right. They needed him. It was hard to think about their mission when her priorities had changed so much. First Blake. Then the rest of the world.

“By the way, sis… What happened to your hand?” Ruby asked. She had noticed the day before but preferred not to ask. Things were already complicated enough. 

“You want the truth or what I told Blake?” Yang snickered.

“The truth” she replied with a serious face.

“I punched a wall until I broke two fingers”

“WHAT?” Ruby exclaimed “Why?”

“I was angry because…” she stopped. Was she really going to tell Ruby that her friend was probably sexual assaulted? “I spoke to Doctor Yu about Blake’s analysis and what they did to her”

“I understand but hurting yourself is not going to do any good”

“I know” she replied “I just needed to fight something”. What she really needed was to kill a couple of Traders. Maybe that would give her peace of mind.

“Have you called Blake’s parents yet?” Ruby asked. She recalled her sister telling her about the conversation she had with them and how they asked to be notified if anything happened. Now their daughter was awake and they deserved to know.

“Not yet” Yang replied. “I want to ask Blake first if she wants to talk to them…” she spoke without thinking and then reality hit her. She lowered her gaze. “If she wants to call them I mean… She can’t really talk to them right?”

Silence.

“You are learning sign language” the team leader stated to break the tension. The blonde looked up.

“Yeah, how do you know?” she asked, perplexed at the fact her little sister knew her plan.

“I saw your book the other day” Ruby revealed with a small grin. Yang blushed. 

“I know she’ll get her voice back eventually. I mean, if they could make this” she said, moving her mechanical arm. “I don’t think repairing her vocal chords is impossible but… It will take time. I just want to make things more comfortable for her. So if we both learn some sign language it will be… easier for her, you know?”

“You really love her, don’t you?” Ruby inquired with a smile. She had always known. Back when they met Blake she didn’t miss the way her sister looked at the faunus. Why had she picked her in particular to try and socialize? There were lots of other students but she had chosen the quiet girl reading a book. Then, as time passed, she had seen the bond between them grow and get stronger. When Blake left she knew Yang’s heart was broken and it made her so happy when team RWBY was finally reunited. After everything with Adam she thought both women would finally be able to investigate their feelings and live their love. They couldn’t of course. Blake was taken and life wasn’t fair.

Yang looked at her sister with wide open eyes. She didn’t expect her to make such a direct question, even if they both knew the answer. Yes, of course she loved her. Blake meant the world to her. She had dated before, nothing serious, and now she understood why she could never feel complete with anyone else. Blake was her destiny. She had never believed in soulmates but she had no doubt there was no one else on Remnant she could love like she loved Blake. 

“I do” she replied finally and her sister smiled as she held her hands over the table.

“You make such a cute couple” Ruby said with a grin, her face turning serious as she continued speaking. “I hate that you’ve had to go through this. It’s horrible and I wished there was more we could do to help”.

“You’ve done more than enough, sis” Yang replied as she placed a hand on her sister’s shoulder. She was so glad to have Ruby. 

\-------

“Blake! My baby, how are you feeling?” Kali asked. They had video called them using the scroll tablet so the faunus could communicate with her parents. Yang was at the window, her back against the wall. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Kali and Ghira. She felt so guilty about what had happened.

“Are they treating you well in the hospital?” Blake nodded at her father’s question.

“I’m so sorry all of this happened to you. You know you can come back home to get better, right?” Kali suggested. Blake moved her head sideways and wrote using the tablet.

“I still have things to do. I’m a huntress”

“I know, sweetie but you are hurt. You need to take time and heal”. Yang tried to imagine a scenario where Blake left for Menagerie. She’d go with her. Fuck the mission. Fuck Salem. But Blake moved her head sideways once more.

“I can heal here. You take care of the White Fang” she wrote.

“Okay, Blake, whatever you think is best” Ghira replied. “But we will go to Atlas as soon as their borders are open. We spoke to Ironwood and he said he’d try to make an exception for us but it won’t be easy. Damn politics”

The conversation went on for a while, Blake’s parents telling her about the advances they had with the White Fang, cleaning up their image after everything Adam had done. Yang was silent, looking at her girlfriend’s reactions. She looked happy to be talking with her parents and it made her feel so much joy. When she had rescued Blake she had wondered if she would ever be the same. Now she had faith there was a way out.

“So, before we end the call, sweetie, could I speak to Yang?” Kali asked. The mention of her name got her by surprise. Blake looked at her and called her with a hand gesture. She walked slowly towards the bed until she was within the camera’s range.

“Hello” she said timidly. Her heart was beating fast.

“Hello, Yang” Kali said with a smile. Was she not angry at her? “I wanted to apologize. When you called us we were really frightened about what had happened and…”

“We feel we were too severe with you” Ghira continued. Was this really happening? “We’re sorry and please, take care of our girl”

“I will. Always” she replied. Blake’s parents looked at each other with a knowing look.

“That is good to hear. Take care both of you” Kali said.

“You too” Blake wrote on the scroll tablet.

Once the call was over Yang sat down on her chair. She hadn’t expected them to be so nice to her. Had they really said they were sorry? A part of her wanted them to be angry. Everything had been her fault and it didn’t matter how many times or how many people told her otherwise, she knew. She felt it. Still, she couldn’t help but feel glad this had happened. Maybe there was a way to have a good relationship with them. She knew it would make Blake happy if they did. She turned to look at her girlfriend and saw her holding the book on sign language.

“Want to practice?” Yang asked and the faunus nodded.

After a couple of hours of study they were both pretty tired. Blake was a quick learner. Yang not so much but she put a lot of effort to be in the same level as the faunus. They were advancing a very good pace and it made the blonde very happy. They would be able to communicate without the scroll tablet eventually.

“I think it’s enough for today” Yang said, leaving the book on the table. “My brain can’t handle any more signs”

Blake stared at her and placed a hand near her face with her fingers bent inwards. Then she moved it forwards as she brought the tips of her fingers together. It took Yang a while to understand.

“Outside” she said. “You want to go outside?” Blake nodded.

“I’ll have to ask Doctor Yu first” the blonde replied and the faunus lowered her ears. “I’m pretty sure he’ll say yes”

\--------------------

Yang pushed her girlfriend out of the room on a wheelchair. Doctor Yu had said there was no problem with going out for a bit but he made it clear the faunus should do the least amount of exercise. Her body was still very weak. However, even if she couldn’t walk it was nice to leave the room. Blake was growing tired of being in bed. They were going to the hospital’s garden. It was really close but at least it was outside. It was a beautiful sunny day even thought it was cold.

As they made their way through the hallways, Blake realized there were many other faunus in the hospital. More than likely rescued from the mines just like her. She recognized some of them and it made her happy their nightmare was over too. She was looking around when time itself stopped for a second. She saw her. Her eyes went wide. Was this possible? Brown hair. Light blue eyes. Small bear ears on the top of her head. She turned around and asked Yang to stop in sign language.

“What is it?” the blonde replied. Blake took out her scroll tablet and wrote a single word.

“Agape?” Yang called, not fully understanding what was going on. Blake nodded and pointed towards a girl on wheelchair. “Agape!” the blonde called. The bear faunus raised her head and looked at them. A man and a woman, probably her parents, turned around as well.

“Blake!” Agape said, moving closer to them on her chair, her parents right behind her. Yang looked at her girlfriend only to realize she was crying. Who was this girl? When both faunus were close enough they hugged tightly, even if they were both in wheelchairs and it was uncomfortable it didn’t matter. They couldn’t believe the other one was alive.

“We made it” Agape said as they broke the hug. They looked at each other with disbelief. “I was barely alive when they found me but the doctors in the airship brought me back” she smiled shyly. Then, as if she had just noticed her presence, the bear faunus looked at Yang.

“And you must be girlfriend, Yang, huntress.” the girl added smiling, recalling the words her friend wrote in the ground when they were both in hell.

“Yeah” she replied blushing. Apparently Blake had told this girl about her and had actually called her girlfriend.

“We are so thankful to you” Agape’s mother said looking at Blake. “She told us how you both took care of each other in that horrible place. Thank you, Blake”. The alluded one nodded and then turned around to say something to her girlfriend in sign language.

“She says you are welcome and… I’m sorry, baby what was that last one?” Blake held her scroll tablet and wrote something and turned it towards Yang. “Oh! She says you should be proud of her” Blake nodded.

“I’m just glad this nightmare is over” Agape’s dad said, placing a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “It was nice to meet you both. We have an appointment with the neurologist so we gotta hurry”.

“I’m tired of doctors” Agape added. “But I want to go back to normal. They don’t know if I will walk again but… I’m alive right?” she smiled, her light blue eyes bright with tears she wouldn’t allow to fall. They said their farewells and went their separate ways. As they got closer to the garden Yang couldn’t stop thinking about the last thing Agape said. Back to normal. She looked at the scar in Blake’s throat, still pretty evident. Was that even a possibility? The faunus turned around to face her. She placed her hands over her chest, both palms facing her body, and moved them in a circular motion.

“You’re happy?” Blake nodded, smiling. She thought her friend was dead. She even said it to the officer that took her statement that morning. She hadn’t asked about her before because she was afraid of what they would say. At least until she knew the truth she could pretend Agape was alive. Now she knew. She was here. They had both made it somehow.

“I’m so glad to hear that, baby” the blonde replied. Things would never go back to what they were but maybe they could find their new normal and learn to be okay with it. Maybe one day even be happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: I know this might come as a surprise since I placed a trigger warning when Agape “died”. This was always my plan, to have her come back. HOWEVER, I take trigger warnings very seriously (I have friends that have gone through traumatic things and I’ve seem the react to some things due to that) so I had to put it. I knew the scene would read as a death either way so I wanted to be sure. I’m sorry if the warning made it seem like this wouldn’t happen. Maybe I could have presented it in another way that didn’t seem like I’m contradicting myself but didn’t find it back then. So yeah, she’s here :)


	20. Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will specify it. 
> 
> Hello, everyone! Like always thank for the support and all the comments. They fill me with joy and strenght to write. I didn’t think I’d have time to write this last few days but thank you insomnia jajaja SO HERE WE GO! :D

“Everything seems fine” Doctor Yu said as he looked at the documents in his hands. “We’ll send you home today” Blake smiled like she hadn’t since she was taken. Leaving the hospital was so exciting. She was finally going to be able to start rebuilding her life, go back to doing what she was supposed to be doing: being a huntress.

“That is so good to hear, doc” Yang replied. “Do we need to take any kind of precautions?”

“I know you are both huntresses so just take it easy at the beginning. I’m sure you’ll be able to get back to your life soon. Just don’t overdo it at first, okay?” Blake nodded in response. She placed a hand on her chin and moved it forwards in the direction of the doctor.

“Blake says thank you” Yang translated. The doctor looked at them with a puzzled look on his eyes.

“Yeah, I got it” he said “You are learning sign language?” he asked, feeling both a tug in his heart and a smile on his lips.

“We are” the blonde answered. “We don’t know how long it will take before she gets her voice back so in the meantime…”

“I wanted to talk to you about that” Yu interrupted. “We have sent Ms. Belladonna's test results and analysis to the top experts in bioengineering. They are working on a solution for her and for the other faunus who had they cords cut”

“Thank you so much, doc” Yang said. She was so glad this man was Blake’s main doctor. She couldn’t imagine how things would have turned out if they got someone else. She knew there were several doctors that had refused to even see the faunus.

“Don’t thank me, Ms. Xiao Long” he replied “I’m just doing my job and I want what’s best for my patient. By the way, you need to come back in a couple of days to get that cast removed” Yu added as he pointed at Yang’s left hand.

“Okay, doc, I will”

“Would you mind coming with me so we can take an x-ray to see how it’s healing?” he asked. Yang didn’t want to leave Blake alone but as soon as she turned to look at her, the faunus placed both her index fingers in the corners of her mouth and moved them forwards.

“Okay, I’ll go” she replied “I’ll be back soon, baby” she said as she kissed her girlfriend’s forehead. Both her and Doctor Yu exited the room and walked silently for a couple of minutes. It took Yang a while to realized they were going to his office.

“Weren’t we going to take an x-ray of my hand?” she asked. The doctor continued walking as he replied.

“Your hand is going to be fine. We need to discuss something else”. Yang could feel her heart beating in her ears. The last time Yu had given her news in his office she ended up beating a wall until she broke two fingers. Once they arrived both of them sat down. Deep breath.

“So I read Ms. Belladonna’s statement to the military” the doctor said. “And she makes no mention of any sort of sexual assault”.

“So that means that it didn’t happen” Yang replied, feeling some of the weight off her shoulders.

“Not exactly. There are many women that prefer not to report this sort of things. However, an official statement is a serious matter so I’d like to believe she hasn’t hidden anything”

“I’d like to think so too”

“As her significant other I would advise you to talk about the subject at some point, maybe she’ll be more honest with you than she was with the officer”. Yang nodded. That wasn’t a conversation she’d look forward too but she was probably the only person that could actually talk to Blake about the matter. She prayed her girlfriend’s statement was true.

“Doc, could you do me a favor?” she asked. The doctor looked at her with questioning eyes.

“Sure” he answered.

“Are there any specific names that she mentioned on the statement? They won’t let me read it”. She wanted to know who had hurt Blake. She wanted a name so she could focus all of her rage on that person and find them. Don’t kill anyone. Did that mantra even make sense at this point?

“I’m breaking every single protocol right now” Yu looked down, took a deep breath and then looked up into lilac eyes. “There are two names that she mentions a lot: Aleph from The Traders and Yudok from the mine”. Yang knew the people from Staub were in military custody and would be sent to jail soon so Yudok was already done for. The other man, however, was still out there with his fucking gang.

“Aleph” she said between her teeth. That was the name of the man that had put a shock collar on Blake and had electrocuted her to the point where her aura couldn’t even heal her. The man that had starved her and then sold her like she was an object. She made a vow, right there at the doctor’s office, that she would find this Aleph. What she would do next wasn’t really clear.

\------------

“I wasn’t expecting any visitors” Agape said with a smile “But all my friend’s from high school came to see me. Even some that aren’t actually my friends. It felt nice”.

“Seems lovely” Blake wrote on the scroll tablet.

“Have your friends come to see you?” the bear faunus asked. Blake nodded in response and wrote once more.

“All of my team came”

“That sounds great” the girl smiled. “And your parents?” she questioned.

“They are in Menagerie. The lockdown won’t let them come and see her” Yang replied as she entered the room. Neither faunus had realized the blonde had arrived, both of them lost in each other’s company. 

“Yang!” Agape exclaimed. “It is so nice that we finally got to meet each other”

“Right back at you” the blonde replied. “Blake told me what you both went through” she added, offering the younger girl a handshake. Agape shook her hand with a smile. The blonde then walked towards her girlfriend. When she was close enough to the bed she gently placed a hand on the faunus’ cheek. “Hello, gorgeous” she said flirtatiously “Are you here very often?” Blake grinned.

“You two are just too cute together” the bear faunus said. Both young women blushed as they looked away from each other. Blake turned around, pulled on Yangs jacket and pointed at her cast..

“My hand?” she asked and then remembered the excuse Yu had used to talk to her alone. “It’s fine. Doc says three more days and they’ll take it off”. Blake smiled in response and Yang felt awful for lying to her.

“So, Yang” Agape called and the alluded one turned around to face her “How did you two meet?”

“We met in Beacon Academy” the blonde recalled as she sat down on her chair. “I wanted Ruby, my sister, to talk to someone and I just saw Blake and went for it. She wasn’t very into it at first”. Blake laughed silently as she pointed to herself. Then she held one hand in front of her while the other one hovered above it with two fingers extended. “You were being antisocial, that is what you were doing” Yang teased.

“What did she say?” Agape asked, wanting to get the joke.

“Oh, sorry” the blonde replied. “She says she was reading. Which she was but…”

“If she was reading why did you pick her?” the bear faunus asked. Yang asked herself the same question. There were lots of other people around, why did she choose Blake? Maybe she knew. Maybe she had always known. She had felt it before she even knew what it was.

“I don’t know” she answered finally “For some reason it just made sense. I just felt it”.

“And how did you became part of the same team?”

“Well… We were kinda thrown into the air and paired up with whoever we saw first once we landed” Yang saw how Agape’s eyes opened wide in disbelieve. There was something very comforting about the younger girl’s presence. She laughed a bit before speaking again. “I guess it was just meant to be”.

Blake looked at her and moved her head sideways as she pointed at herself. Then she made fists with her hands, both with the thumb extended, and moved them forwards. Finally, she pointed at Yang.

“You followed me?” the blonde exclaimed and her girlfriend nodded.

“I think I just might die from cuteness overload here” Agape said, the picture in front of her too sweet to process.

“Why did you follow me?” Blake smiled as she took the scroll tablet. She hadn’t learnt the sign for what she wanted to say yet. The faunus’ wrote something and turned the screen towards Yang and Agape.

“I felt it too”


	21. Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will specify it. 
> 
> SO this is a short one. I've been having busy days but I can't stop writing this fic because I have so many ideas jajaja. Hope you enjoy it and as always: THANKS FOR THE LOVE AND SUPPORT :D

Blake had mixed feelings about going back to the house. A part of her was very happy to leave that fucking room. If it hadn’t been for Yang, those days in the hospital would have been unbearable. However, she felt really anxious at the thought of being in the city. Atlas had been cruel with her. The last time she walked it’s streets she was shot with a tranquilizer dart and kidnapped. She wasn’t looking forward to something like that happening again. Her logical side knew it made no sense. Statistically speaking it was considerably unlikely she would go through something like that again. It didn’t matter. When she stepped out of the hospital she froze.

“Hey” a familiar voice called. She felt her hand being held. Yang was there. Nothing bad was going to happen. “You okay?” the blonde asked. Blake nodded as she felt her own heart slowing down.

“I’m so happy you are finally discharged, Blake” Ruby said as she and Weiss came out the door. They had brought the faunus a change of clothes and had stayed to accompany her and Yang back to the house.

“Ironwood sent a vehicle to take us back. It’s right over there” Weiss added, pointing to a car parked a few meters away from them.

“He’s really trying to get back on our good side” Yang snickered. She wasn’t going to trust the general any time soon. Not after he refused to go after the Schnee Dust Company. He was a coward.

“Shotgun!” Ruby yelped as she ran towards the car. Weiss looked at her with both disapproval and a tiny smile.

“Classic Ruby” Yang snickered.

Once they were all in the vehicle the driver greeted them and turned on the car. Blake was doing her best to remain calm. Every single sound seemed to trigger her, like she was afraid of the world. It made her angry not being able to control her reactions. Was she really this weak? She closed her eyes for a bit and a vivid image came to her mind. She was blindfolded in some kind of vehicle, her body broken and and young boy crying on the seat next to her. She opened her eyes when she felt the panic attack coming. Her breathing started accelerating. Her heart was beating hard and fast on her ears. She took both hands to her head as the shivers appeared. She started crying silently.

Yang was looking through the window, thinking about how things were gonna be now that Blake was out of the hospital. She was excited, of course, and certainly willing to leave all the horror behind. Still, Yang knew there was no way to go back to how things were. Maybe the physical wounds were mostly gone but there was still so much to heal. She turned around to find her girlfriend having a panic attack. 

“Stop the car” she said.

“What?” Ruby asked, turning to look at the back seat.

“Just stop!” Yang repeated, this time with a harsher tone. The driver parked the car. He didn’t know what was happening but he had heard about the blonde. He wasn’t looking forward to having his ass kicked if he disregarded her order.

“Blake, look at me” Yang whispered as she held the faunus’ hands with her own, slowly removing them from her head. “I’m here, baby. It’s okay”.

“We are all here with you, Blake” Weiss added, stroking the faunus’ back.

“Nothing bad is going to happen. We won’t allow it, okay?” Ruby said, placing a hand on her friend’s knee.

Blake’s breathing started to normalize. Her heart went back to her chest and slowly calmed down. She looked at her friends and her girlfriend. They were here. She wasn’t alone. This wasn’t the car that took her to the mine. She was going back to the house. Back to her team. Back to her life. She looked into lilac eyes and took a deep breath.

“Better?” Yang asked, cupping the faunus’ cheek gently. Blake nodded in response as she hugged her girlfriend’s mechanical arm. Yang intertwined the fingers of her free hand with one of Blake’s and kissed her on the forehead. “Let’s go then”. The driver turned on the vehicle and they resumed their way back to the house.

“Was it the car?” Weiss asked once the black haired girl had calmed down. Blake nodded as she pointed to herself. Then she made a fist, her thumb extended, and used it to point at her temple. Finally, she used her index finger to point up and made a horizontal circle.

“She says she remembered something” Yang translated as she tried to imagine what kind of horrific scenario the faunus had recalled. 

“We’re here, always. Ok?” Ruby said and Blake somehow managed to smile.

\------------------------

“We’re so glad you are back with us” Jaune said as he gave Blake a hug. All the team was in the living room, ready to welcome her back. It made her happy to know she had a family that actually cared about her. However, being around many people still made her a bit uncomfortable. Yang noticed immediately and held her hand tightly as everyone greeted her. It made things a lot easier. After an hour of hanging out she felt really tired. Maybe spending so many days lying down had made her lose some of her stamina. She wasn’t usually one to tire easily.

“You okay?” Yang asked her. Blake nodded as she used both hands to point at herself and then slumped them downwards. “Let’s go get some rest then” she smiled into her words. “So, guys, it’s been a thrill but my girlfriend needs some rest since she spent all morning getting examined so...”

“I just love that you call her your girlfriend” Nora teased and the blonde grinned.

“I love it too”.

Blake blushed and smiled.

Before everything happened, both girls had been sharing a room with two beds. Now, however, it was basically implied they would only use one. As Yang layed down Blake looked at her, wanting to cuddle her but feeling a bit nervous about it. Their relationship was still very new and she was learning how to handle it. She barely had experience in the subject, having spent most of her teen years in Adam’s grasp. Yang looked at her, her eyes filled with love, and patted the spot next to her in the bed.

“Come here, baby” she said in a way that made Blake feel butterflies all over. She got on the bed and layed next to the blonde. “You are so beautiful” Yang whispered as she gently caressed the other one’s cheek. The faunus smiled as she inched forwards to kiss her girlfriend’s lips. When they broke apart Blake snuggled closer, her head resting on Yang’s chest. She wanted to tell her that she loved her. She wanted to tell her that just having her close made her so much stronger. But she couldn’t. All she could do was kiss her again, holding her face between her hands, hoping her lips could do all the talking her voice was supposed to do.


	22. Footsteps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will specify it. 
> 
> HOW DID I FINISH THIS CHAPTER? I don’t know. Honestly I didn’t think I’d be able to write more this week but the gods of lesbianism and angst have given me sudden inspiration and I birthed this chapter. THANK YOU ALL FOR THE LOVE! Hope you like this one. It’s a long one :D

It was dark and she was on the ground. A familiar sense of panic started to drown her. She had been there before. Blake remembered that smell, that silence, the feeling of the cold hard floor against her cheek. She opened her eyes to find her own hands in front of her, shackled. She tried to stand up and found her body too weak to move, her ankles in chains. There were cardboard boxes around her, dismantled, wet and old. In front of her was a door. A metal door. Her breathing started accelerating and she could feel her heartbeat in her ears.

Footsteps.

They were slow and heavy and she had a hard time hearing them at first but then they started getting louder. Closer. Blake felt this had happened before. Many times. She tried to sit up and could barely bring herself to lean against the wall. There was a metal collar on her neck that made breathing uncomfortable. The steps stopped and she could recognize the sound of keys unlocking the door. As it cracked open a dim light made its way into the room.

“I told you didn’t I?” she heard the voice before she could make out the image of whoever was speaking. It seemed to come out of the walls themselves. “Wherever you go, I will always be there”. She remembered those words. The name came to her as soon as she saw his brown eyes staring down at her.

“Aleph” she tried to say but no sound left her mouth.

“Still trying to talk are we?” he snickered. Blake tried to stand up but her legs were useless.

“You really want to kill me right now don’t you, kitten?” Aleph said as he took out something from his pocket. “Look who we have here” he laughed. “Our friend the clicker. Aren’t you going to say hi? It’s been a while and you two were such good mates”

Click.

The world exploded in pain and she couldn’t scream. She felt her body breaking apart and then coming back together as the waves of pain receded. Aleph walked towards her and then kneeled down to look her in the eyes.

“I’ve missed you” he said as he raised a hand to Blake’s cheek. She flinched back. Aleph laughed and slapped her hard on the face. “Do you even remember your training?!” he shouted in her face. “I’ll make you remember then, kitten”.

Aleph stood up and grabbed her by the hair. She had no strength in her to resist. He pulled hard, making her fall on her face against the floor. Then she felt his weight on her back and a hand on the back of her head. This was also familiar. No. Not again. This couldn’t be happening to her again. Blake tried to move, she tried to do anything but her body would barely react. She heard how Aleph unbuckled himself. Please, no. No. No.

No.

Blake’s eyes shot open and a silent scream died in her lips. She couldn’t breathe. She felt like someone was trying to choke her. Her entire body was shaking and she started panicking more and more as she ran out of air. She looked at her side and remembered she was not alone. Using all the strength she had left she lifted a hand and placed it on Yang’s back hoping it would be enough to wake her up.

The first sound she registered when she woke up were Blake’s silent cries. She had come to recognize the subtle noises that her girlfriend could do. Yang turned around quickly and found the faunus’ in the middle of a panic attack unlike any other she had seen.

“Baby, I’m here” the blonde whispered as she held Blake close. “Nothing bad is going to happen”.

Blake could hear her, but it was like her voice was far away and it was drowning under Aleph’s voice.

“Wherever you go, I will always be there” he repeated again and again, his voice loud, getting deeper and deeper every time.

“Blake, look at me” Yang called as she looked her girlfriend in the eyes. It was clear something was very wrong. It was like her eyes couldn’t see what was in front of them. They were frozen in a look of absolute terror. “Baby, please, come back to me” she whispered. There had to be something she could do to help her. She looked so terrified, so in pain. There had to be something she could to calm her down.

“REN!” she shouted with all she had. “REN!”

If his semblance could mask emotions from the Grimm maybe they could help Blake calm down enough so she could get to her. She heard doors opening, people talking and then saw light under her bedroom door. She was glad Ruby made sure all the light switches in the house were silent. She didn’t need anything to make Blake’s panic attack get even worse. The door shot open and she could see every inhabitant of the house in the hallway. Ren entered the room.

“What is happening? Why did you…”

“Help her, please” Yang begged with tears on her eyes, holding a terrified Blake in her arms. Ren ran towards them and kneeled. He placed a hand on Blake’s arm and activated his semblance. The only sound in the entire house was the loud wheezing coming out of Blake’s mouth every time she tried to take a breath. Slowly but surely the shaking stopped. “Blake, it’s me. Come back” the blonde said. She looked straight into amber eyes and this time they looked back at her.

Aleph’s voice disappeared and she could finally see clearly. He heard hurt like hell and every breath felt like a fight. The first thing she recognized were Yang’s eyes, covered in tears and looking at her. She looked around and saw Ren holding her arm. Ruby and Weiss were in the room and the rest of the team looked inside from the hallway.

“Blake?” Yang called her and she could feel her soul finally coming back to her body. She turned around and hugged the blonde with all her strength. The nightmare had felt so real. She had feared for a second that it was and that getting rescued had been a dream but her girlfriend’s arms around her convinced her otherwise.

“I think you should take her to see the doctor” Maria said from the hallway. “It sounded like she was seriously choking”

“Yeah” Yang replied softly as she and Blake broke the hug. The faunus looked around and felt really bad for having caused such a scene. She brought a fist to her chest and rotated twice in a clockwise motion.

“You have nothing to be sorry about” Ruby said “It’s not something you can control”

“You understood her?” Yang asked her sister. The team leader smiled proudly.

“Weiss and I might have been learning a bit of sign language on the side”

“More like I’ve been learning and then teaching her but yes” the former heiress added. The faunus smiled, the panic attack officially behind her. How could she feel anything but safe with people that loved her so much? She took a deep breath. Things were fine. Nothing bad was going to happen.

“We should all go back to sleep now. Big day tomorrow, right?” Jaune proposed. Yang looked at her puzzled.

“Big day?”

“”So I guess the whole don’t tell Blake and Yang thing is pretty much out the window now, isn’t it?” Nora said looking at her friend with an exasperated look.

“I’m sorry” he replied.

“What is going on?” Yang asked, this time her tone a bit more severe.

“Ozpin told us where the relic is. We are going to try and get it before Salem gets here” Ruby revealed. Right, Yang thought, they were supposed to save the world. She had forgotten for a second.

“We know Blake isn’t ready to… She’s still healing” Qrow said as he entered the room. “And we know you won’t leave her side”.

“I get it” the blonde replied. She cared more about Blake that she did for the rest of Remnant. Until she was completely healed she wasn’t going anywhere. Her friends understood and they seemed to respect it. “We’ll stay put but next time don’t hide it from us. We are still part of the team”

“I’m sorry, it was my idea” Weiss said, her eyes looking down at the floor. “I didn’t want to burden you with anything else”.

“It’s okay”

Silence.

“I’m going to bed and so should all of you” Maria yelped as she went back to her room. The sound of her door closing triggered everyone else to follow her steps. They said their goodnights and left. The last one through the door was Ren.

“Thank you” Yang told him and the boy smiled.

“Always” he said and then closed the door.

Once they were alone Blake got the scroll tablet out and started writing. Yang looked at the screen over her shoulder.

“You should go. I don’t want to keep you from the mission” the faunus wrote.

“Baby” Yang said as she gently pushed the scroll tablet down. She cupped Blake’s cheek with one of her hands and brought their faces very close. “You aren’t keeping me from anything. I want to be here with you. I’ll always choose you”. The blonde inched forwards to bring their lips together and the faunus felt tears running down her face.

“I love you” Blake mouthed between kisses even though she knew Yang couldn’t hear her. She needed to say it because it was real and it came out of every pore in her body. Loving Yang was the most real thing she had ever felt. She snuggled close to her girlfriend and tried to fall asleep. Her head still hurt and her breathing wasn’t really back to normal but the feeling of Yang’s warmth against her was all it took to forget how much the world sucked.

\-------------------------

They went to the hospital the very next day. Yang tried to convince them to take off her cast but the doctors were adamant about leaving it on for a couple more days. Once she accepted her fate they went to see Doctor Yu. After a short physical examination he asked for some tests. Blake was nervous but Yang’s company made the situation bearable. Waiting for the results in the room outside Yu’s office seemed like an eternity. Yang couldn’t stop thinking about the million things that could be messing with Blake’s breathing. 

“Ms. Belladonna?” a nurse called. “The doctor is ready to see you”. They both stood up and walked swiftly towards the office. Yang noticed the nurse looking at Blake with disapproval. Guess she was one of the rotten ones. She wanted to punch her but there were more important things to do than beating a racist.

“Sit down please” Yu said and both women obliged.

“So, what is it? Why is she having such a hard time breathing?” Yang asked as she pulled up a chair.

“It looks like Ms. Belladonna’s vocal cords are scarring and the excess tissue is causing several problems. That would explain the shortness of breath” the doctor said, looking at the test results. “We’ll have to perform surgery to remove the tissue before it causes any more problems”.

“Won’t that damage her vocal chords even more?” Yang asked, holding Blake’s hand tightly. “Won’t that make it harder to have corrective surgery later?”

“I’m afraid it will but we don’t have another option” the doctor explained. “If we don’t remove the tissue it will continue to scar until it makes it impossible for her to breathe”. Both young women looked at each other, knowing they had no other road to take. They didn’t need words or signs to understand what the other one was thinking. I’ll be there, Yang’s eyes said. I know, Blake’s replied.

The faunus turned to the doctor. She made a circle with her hand and then raised her index and middle finger.

“We’ll do it today then. Before it gets any worse. I’ll have them prepare a room for you two” Yu said as he started to make his way out of the room. “I’ll send a nurse once it’s ready”

“Make sure it’s not the one that called us in” the blonde requested, making sure her voice was loud enough for the woman outside to hear.


	23. Leaving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will specify it. 
> 
> So I took some time to plan the following chapters and so it happens that SIA will have 30 chapters. I would have never imagined writing something so long and the only reason I was able to was because of you guys reading and commenting. It means a lot. I know I always say it but it is like FUEL to me and I just love y’all. NOW ONTO THE CHAPTER!

Seeing Blake unconscious in a hospital bed brought back so many memories. Yang could remember with cruel clarity how bruised and broken her girlfriend had looked after leaving Staub. It wasn’t a sight she would ever forget. But this wasn’t the same situation. She had to tell herself that. Blake was doing better and this surgery was to save her life. The fact that the faunus could have choked to death made Yang burn with rage.

Aleph.

The name rang in her head with every breath she took. The Traders had cut Blake’s vocal cords and stolen her voice. What more did they want to take? Doctor Yu had warned them that after this procedure the chances of her talking again were even slimmer. All of this was their fault. She wanted to make them pay. If they hadn’t gone to the hospital right away or if Ren hadn’t been there the night before… Yang didn’t want to think about those scenarios. She was sincerely scared of the person she would become if Blake died. There’d be no mantras or breathing exercises to keep her from going in a killing spree.

Blake looked peaceful. Yang couldn’t help but stare. She sat next to the bed as she held her girlfriend’s hand in hers. It had been a couple of hours since the surgery finished so the fanus should wake up any time soon. Yang had sent a message to Ruby explaining the whole situation shortly after arriving at the hospital. She wasn’t really expecting her sister to reply since she and the team were attempting to get the relic. Their hands were more than likely pretty full at the moment.

One of Blake’s ears twitched before she slowly opened her eyes. She blinked a couple of times before her eyes shot open in terror and her body started shaking. She was probably disoriented and scared. Yang pressed her hand lightly and the faunus looked to the side abruptly. Amber met lilac and the shivers disappeared.

“It’s okay, baby Yang said. “You had surgery, remember?” Blake nodded slowly in response. “How are you feeling?” she asked and Blake nodded again. “I’m going to go tell the doctor you woke up. I’ll be right back” the blonde added as she stood up. When she tried to take a step towards the door, the faunus pulled on her sleeve. Yang turned around to see a severely blushing Blake pointing at her own lips. Her eyes were glossy and it was evident she was still coming out of the anesthesia. “What is it?” she asked. Blake puckered her lips and Yang finally understood. She felt a tug at her heart. The sight was just too cute. She bent down and kissed her girlfriend on the lips gently. When she pulled away she could see a smile on the faunus’ lips. “Can I go now, love?”

“Yes” Blake mouthed with a dreamy look in her eyes.

Fifteen minutes later Doctor Yu was in the room giving Blake a quick examination. Everything looked very good. The procedure had been quite simple and it wouldn’t take much time to finish healing. Blake shouldn’t try to make any sort of sound for a couple of days. They wanted her to stay overnight to keep an eye on her and send them home the next day. Neither of them was happy about spending a night in the hospital after having left so recently but there was no other choice. They couldn’t risk anything happening if they insisted on leaving that same day.

Once the doctor left, Yang sat at the edge of the bed, her back turned to Blake. She was tired. Her body was a painful knot after so many nights sleeping on a chair or the hard as fuck couch. She wasn’t going to complain though. She’d sleep on a chair forever if it would help Blake get better. The blonde turned around to look at her girlfriend. Blake tilted her head to the side, one of her ears twitching slightly.

“I’m really tired” Yang said. Blake smiled as she extended both index fingers to point at her girlfriend. Then she moved them inwards towards her chest. “You mean like, get into the bed with you?” she blush. Blake nodded and she blushed even more. “We’re in the hospital” the faunus shrugged as she pointed at Yang and proceeded to moved her right fist twice against her chin. Then she touched both her index fingers against each other twice as well. Finally she pointed at herself. Yang smiled.

“Yeah, you are right. I’m your girlfriend” she replied. Blake smiled and moved to a side, making room for Yang next to her. The bed was not really meant for two people but neither of them cared. After having slept together back at the house it was clear to both of them that they wouldn’t sleep any other way. The blonde took off her boots and got in the bed. Blake was quick to snuggle against her, resting her head on the other one’s chest. “Good night, baby” she whispered into one her girlfriend’s cat ears. Blake kissed her on the cheek in response.

It didn’t take long for the faunus to fall asleep. Yang, on the other side, was having a hard time doing so. She was worried about her sister. She hadn’t replied the message she had sent which meant the team was still out there trying to complete their mission. A part of her felt guilty that her stupidity had caused both her and Blake to be unable to help. It had been a while since she had felt so guilty about what had happened. Her thoughts were about to take her on a very unpleasant trip when she heard a strange noise. It was pretty low at first but it was becoming increasingly loud. It was coming from Blake. Was she choking? Had something gone wrong in the surgery? Many questions appeared in her mind before she finally realized what was happening.

“You can purr?” Yang asked a sleeping Blake who, of course, didn’t reply. It was the single most beautiful sound she had ever heard. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on it. Blake was happy. Blake felt safe sleeping at her side. That was all that mattered.

\--------------------

The sound of her own scroll woke her up. Yang opened her eyes and quickly extracted it from her pocket, not wanting the sound to wake up Blake. When she finally found it and answered it was too late, the faunus was staring at her with questioning eyes. It was Ruby. She picked up, feeling a knot on her throat. Was it good news? Was it bad news?

“Hi” Yang said. “Are you okay?”

“We are all fine” Ruby replied and the blonde could feel her own soul coming back to her body.

“That is really good to hear” she replied.

“We got the relic” the team leader added but before her sister could celebrate or feel happy she went on. “We’re leaving for Vacuo tonight”

“What?” she asked, hoping she had heard wrong.

“We’re leaving” Ruby repeated. “Salem isn’t coming here. She’s going to Vacuo”

“Vacuo? How do you…”

“There’s reports of serious grimm activity and Ozpin sounds pretty sure. They can withstand an attack here in Atlas but in Vacuo…”

“I get it” the blonde interrupted. “I’m staying”

“I know” Ruby replied quickly. “I’m not expecting you to go with me. We’ll go say our goodbyes to both of you before leaving. How did the surgery go?”

“All good” Yang answered. “She’s breathing normally now”

“That’s good to hear. We’ll see you in a bit”

“Okay, sis” the blonde said as they both ended the call. She turned around to see Blake with a puzzled look on her eyes. Yang explained the situation and her girlfriend got increasingly worried at every statement. She took her scroll tablet and started writing.

“We have to tell Sun and his team” she wrote.

“Ruby and the others are coming here, we’ll tell them to get in contact with them”. It amazed Yang that in spite of everything Blake had gone through she was still thinking like a huntress. It made her feel proud and fall in love with her more every day. 

“By the way, baby. Are you aware that you purred all night?” Blake blushed intensely. She was usually able to control herself. She hadn’t really done it since she was a child. “It was the cutest thing ever” the blonde added as she pecked her girlfriend on the lips. They smiled at each other and touched their foreheads together. Everything was okay as long as they were there for each other and no one was going to tear them apart again.


	24. Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will specify it. 
> 
> So here we are, only six chapters away from the end of this journey. I won’t spoil anything but there’s an old friend of ours coming back this chapter. This was interesting for me to write jajaja you’ll see why. I’d really like to hear your opinion on this one. It would mean a lot :) HERE WE GO!

Saying goodbye to the team was hard. It wasn’t that long ago that they were all reunited and parting ways now was a bit heartbreaking. However, they all understood the situation they were in and knew this was the only possible approach. The hospital room was crowded with all of them inside but they didn’t care. There was no saying when they would all be together again. They took turns saying their goodbyes to Blake and Yang and started leaving the room slowly. When it was Ruby’s turn she hugged her sister tight. 

“Stay strong, sis” the younger one said.

“You too” Yang replied hugging her back. 

“Take care of each other” Weiss added walking towards them. Team RWBY was about to be split yet again. They looked at each other in silence, saying so much without using words. Blake raised two fingers and touched her cheek with one of them, right under her eye. Then she pointed at Ruby and Weiss. Finally she lightly pinched her chin. 

“Yeah” the former heiress said. “See you soon”. 

“We’ll inform you of the situation and how it develops” Qrow told his niece. “We called this friend of yours, he and his team will meet us when we land” 

“That’s great” she smiled. “We’ll keep in touch and meet you there when… We’ll meet you there”. The truth is Yang didn’t really know how much time it would be before Blake was well enough to get back to the mission. Maybe it would never happen. She didn’t really want to contemplate that scenario. Seeing Blake smiled at her friends gave her hope that their time apart from their team would be short. Once they were all gone the two girls stared at each other for a while without saying anything. Now it’s just us. Yang sat on the bed and kissed Blake lightly on the lips. The faunus smiled. 

“I must admit I do like having you all for myself” the blonde joked. Her girlfriend laughed and punched her softly on the shoulder. Maybe some time just the two of them, away from hospitals and tragedy was what Blake needed. “Wanna go and see if they’ll take off my cast now?” 

\------------------------

“Oh left hand, how I’ve missed you” Yang said jokingly as the nurse removed the cast from her fingers. Blake rolled her eyes and laughed at her girlfriend’s statement. In all honesty, it felt pretty nice going to the hospital not as a patient but as company. However, for the first time, she was painfully aware of how some of the staff looked at them. It didn’t seem to bother the blonde, maybe she had gotten used to it during their long stay, but it made Blake uneasy. There was something about the woman treating Yang that she didn’t like very much. 

“Try not to use that hand too much for a couple of days. It might be still sensitive” the nurse said with a monotone voice. She was an older woman, probably in her sixties, and she had an angry face. Her hair was grey with age. 

“Thank you” Yang replied, offering a sincere smile. 

“Don’t thank me” the nurse snickered as she shot a side glance to Blake. “Fucking zoophiliac” the woman growled between pressed teeth before walking away. The insult took Yang by surprise. She had heard some racists use that term to describe humans in relationships with faunus but no one had ever said it to her. She turned to look at her Blake and found her staring at the nurse’s back. Her eyes were of a huntress looking at her prey. She was enraged. That woman had insulted her girlfriend. She had used a horrible and derogatory name to insult their relationship. She wanted to go and punch her in the face. She felt a hand in hers and turned around. Yang was looking at her with love in her eyes. She took a deep breath and relaxed her body.

“I want to punch her too” the blonde whispered. “But it’s not right”. Blake nodded in response. For the first time she could understand how Yang had felt when people insulted her. Being called names was one thing but having them said to someone you love was considerably more enraging. She had even contemplated violence. Blake took out her scroll tablet from her bag and started writing. When she was done she turned the screen to Yang. 

“I get it” she wrote. “I get why you got angry” the blonde sighted, a feeling of understanding overtaking her. That fucking argument had been the reason they had split that night and for a very long time she feared it would have been their last interaction. Having Blake understand why she acted that way took a little bit of the blame off her shoulders. 

“I get why you got angry too” Yang said. She too could now see things from the other side. They hadn’t talked about that night at all ever since they were reunited. Maybe they both just wanted to forget about it or maybe they both felt guilty about the fight. Either way now it was dealt with. They didn’t need a long talk or apologies. All they needed was the feeling of mutual understanding that their eyes meeting gave them. If they had learnt something from their unspoken love was that some things didn’t even need to be said. 

\---------------------

They decided to walk home. Blake insisted. Yang wasn’t really sure the faunus was ready to be out in public with a lot of strangers and all the city’s noises but she wasn’t going to go against her girlfriend’s wishes. Maybe Blake felt ready. No one but her could be judge of that. The streets that were close to the hospital were mostly empty so walking through them was pretty peaceful. They walked with their hands intertwined and Blake absentmindedly leaned on the blonde. The feeling of the faunus’ weight against her as they walked was all she could think about. 

“Are you cold?” Yang asked, Blake moved her head sideways. “I thought you were, since you were leaning on me…” she muttered. The amber eyes girl let out a small silent laugh and kissed her on the cheek. Sometimes it was hard to believe that all of this was real, that Blake really felt the same way she did. 

As they got closer to the house the streets became increasingly crowded. Both of them tried to keep their eyes on the road and their ears closed to any comment. Luckily they only received some odd looks. About four blocks before their destination, Blake spotted a bookstore. She pulled on Yang’s sleeve and pointed towards it. She really needed new books. Learning sign language was important, she knew it, but she needed something else. Both of the novels her girlfriend had bought for her became boring after the third read. 

“You want to go in there?” Yang asked and Blake nodded in responde. “Okay” she grinned as they both made their way towards the store. The blonde was happy to see the place was mostly empty when they walked in. Only two clients and the store clerk. 

Blake was very excited and went straight for the novels. Yang walked behind her. It was nice to see her girlfriend this happy. She looked at the books and one of them caught her eye: “The Lovers from Patch”. The name of her hometown surprised her. It was a very small place and they were all the way in Atlas. She grabbed it and started looking through it’s pages. She recalled reading something on the news about a man from Patch that had written a very successful novel and apparently this was it. She looked up from the book, ready to make a joke about it when she realized Blake wasn’t were she was supposed to be. 

“Blake?” she called, leaving the novel in its place and looking around. It wasn’t a very big establishment. This made no sense. Where was she? Had something happened? She could feel her heart beating in her ears as a sense of dread overtook her. The Traders were still free. Maybe they had found them. They knew what she had done and now they had come back. Every single horrific scenario played in her head at once before she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Blake, her head tilted to the side in confusion. 

“Where were you?” she asked, holding Blake’s arm with her mechanical hand. The faunus pointed behind her at a restroom sign. Yang wanted to feel stupid for panicking but she could feel her gut at her feet and it was enough to make her fears seem real. 

“Don’t go where I can’t keep my eyes on you” Yang said, her voice coming out harsher than she intended. Her heart was still beating hard on her ears. She had been scared shitless that something had happened to Blake. As her head cleared up she realized her hold on Blake’s arm had become quite strong and immediately let go. “I’m sorry I just…” before she could finish the sentence the faunus had turned around and walked out of the store. She followed her. “Blake, stop!” the alluded ignored her, making her way towards the house. Once they were in front of the door Blake waited impatiently as Yang unlocked it. 

“Blake what’s wrong?” the blonde asked as her girlfriend entered their room. She followed her and found her sitting on the bed writing angrily on her scroll tablet. Blake was clearly upset. The fact that she had to write what she wanted to say instead of just being able to say it angered her even more. She was glad that Doctor Yu had given her the tablet but it certainly wasn’t a perfect replacement for her voice. After a short while she handed the tablet over to Yang. 

“I know you are scared something is going to happen to me” she had written. “But don’t treat me like I’m broken. You didn’t like when people treated you like that. Why are you doing the same to me? Let me decide what I can handle and what I can’t and don’t talk to me like I’m a child”. Blake was right. When she lost her arm she hated that others treated her like she was weak. She had even gotten angry at the faunus on their way to Argus for doing exactly what she had just done. 

“I’m sorry, baby” Yang said as she sat down next to her girlfriend. “I know you are strong and I know you aren’t a child. I just love you so much and I thought I lost you when they took you away and…” Blake stopped her rambling with a kiss. She made a circle with her hand and then lifted two fingers. “I love you, Blake” Yang said, gently caressing the other girl’s face with her hand “I really do” the faunus smiled. She would have given anything to be able to say it back. She held the blonde’s face with both hands and brought their lips together in a kiss. It was sweet at first but was slowly becoming more and more intense. Yang brought her girlfriend closer, pulling her waist gently with one hand. The feeling of Blake’s breasts against her own made her whole body burn. 

Yang wanted more. Blake was perfection in her eyes. Everything about her was so beautiful. She was just so happy to be with her. So happy to love and be loved by her. In that room, that night, it was only the two of them in the world. She felt Blake’s tongue in her mouth and moaned. There was an aching inside of her. Her hands held her girlfriend’s waist as she felt how Blake’s were oh so close to her breasts. Yang sat up slightly, looking into yellow eyes and breathing soundly. 

“Are you sure about this?” she asked, a part of her scared this was all too much for the faunus to handle. 

Blake smiled. She was sure about it. She loved Yang and it was evident they both wanted this. Being so close to her girlfriend filled her with a feeling of love and safety she had never felt before in her life. She used her index and middle fingers to make two v-shapes and tapped them twice. She then pointed at herself. Yang had no idea what she had just said. 

“I’m sorry, baby, I didn’t get that” she said. Blake laughed silently as she looked her deep in the eyes, her hands moving to the edge of the blonde’s shirt. Yang lost no time in removing it, revealing a black bra that was barely able to cover her chest. The other girl stared, feeling so turned on by the sight of a shirtless Yang. Her body was a work of art. Her abs were apparent and Blake just wanted to lick them. They resumed kissing, just as intensely as before. 

Blake’s hands ventured under the other girl’s bra and the blonde moaned her name into her cat ears in a way that made her core ignite. She felt Yang’s knee between her legs and she grinded against it as she removed the blonde’s bra. She had never felt this connected to anyone before. So fucking in love. 

Yang was in a dream. A part of her still had a hard time believing Blake loved her back but knowing she wanted her so much made her mind explode in joy. She replaced her knee with her hand, touching Blake through her pants. She unbuttoned them, slowly moving her hand under her underwear. 

It was all going perfectly until Blake felt Yang’s hand oh so close to her entrance. It was familiar and she didn’t want to think about it. She took a deep breath. This is Yang. This is us. There is no reason to think about anything else. The images started flashing in her mind. A weight on her back. A hand on her hair. Something inside her. No. Please no. 

Blake was shivering. Yang stopped. 

“Baby?” she said “What’s wrong?”. The faunus’ eyes were shot open and she wouldn’t stop shaking. Yang felt terrible. Had she caused this? This reaction was pretty similar to the one she had with clicking noises. Why would intimacy trigger her? Why would... That’s when it all made sense in her head. Yu’s words repeated themselves in her mind as one of her biggest fears slapped her on the face. Yang’s eyes flickered red at the realization. 

“Blake” she said, holding her girlfriend close. “Its okay. It's just us” 

She was lost in panic, back in that dark room with the creepy man. She could smell Aleph. She could feel him. Blake tried to control her breath, focusing on the sound of Yang’s voice to bring her back. She’s here. She’s holding me. There is no reason to be afraid. The shaking stopped. She hugged Yang back, trying to be as close to her as possible. They laid there a while until their breaths synchronized in a calm rhythm. Blake liked the feeling of Yang's bare skin against her. 

“I need to know” the blonde said finally with the softest of voices “They… Did they…” she couldn’t even find the words to ask. Blake looked up, her cat ears flat on her head and tears at the corners of her eyes. She nodded once. Yang could feel something breaking inside her. How fucked up were those people? She should have just killed them all. “The Traders?” she asked and Blake nodded again. “Why didn’t you mention this in your statement?” Blake just looked down, tears streaming down her face. Yang held her, crying as well. Eventually the fanus fell asleep. Yang didn't. She stayed awake for the whole night, her eyes fixated on red and Aleph’s name ringing in her head like a fucking bell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s angst. Angst is the old friend that is back. Some people asked for it. Some people feared it. So let’s go.


	25. Them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will specify it. 
> 
> HELLO! Thank you all for reading this fic. Every comment and ask makes me so damn happy :) We are close to the end. This will be the very first fic I actually finish in my life. I’m really excited. Tell me what you think about the end of this chapter, friends :)

Blake woke up to find herself alone in bed. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, looking for Yang. The blonde was nowhere to be seen. If only she could call out to her she wouldn’t have to leave the warm and comfy embrace of the bed. Reluctantly, she stood up. As she walked out of the room the memories from the night before started flashing in her mind. Blake blushed at first but soon recalled how she had experienced a full blown panic attack. She felt awful. The memories from what Aleph had done to her were so fresh in her mind. Even though she tried to she couldn’t stop her brain from playing them again. Her breathing started accelerating and she could feel her heartbeat raising. Deep breath. Calm down. Deep breath. He’s not here.

“Blake?” she heard Yang calling her but it felt like she was far away. The faunus started shaking. Then she felt two arms wrapping around her: one was warm and the other one cold. “Baby, it’s okay. I’m here” the blonde said as she kissed the top of her girlfriend’s head. Blake started calming down slowly until her breathing synchronized with Yang’s. “Better?” the blonde asked. The faunus nodded in response. “Let’s go have breakfast okay?”

There were pancakes on the table when they walked into the kitchen and Blake couldn’t believe her eyes. Yang had actually gotten up early to cook for her. When she turned around to look at her girlfriend she found the cutest scene. Yang had a deep blush on her face and she was scratching the back of her head.

“I wanted to do something nice for you” she said nervously. “So I thought I’d make breakfast or something…”

Bake smiled the biggest smile she had in while as she walked towards the blonde. When she was close enough she looked her in the eyes as she took a hand to her chin and moved it forwards, thanking her in sign language. Yang looked down, still flustered. Blake pecked her on the lips lightly. She giggled silently and grabbed onto the other girl’s neck. The blonde placed both hands on the faunus’s waist and kissed her again.

“We better eat before it gets cold” she said, “Pancakes are better when they are warm and fluffy”. They sat down and began eating. Blake was amazed at how good the breakfast was but it made sense. Yang had to take care of Ruby growing up so it was logical she had to learn some cooking. The faunus, on the other hand, was pretty useless in the kitchen. “You like it?” the blonde asked. Blake nodded as she stuffed her mouth with food. Yang laughed. That picture was worth a thousand compliments. When they were done, Blake insisted on doing the dishes and cleaning up. Yang was pretty tired from a sleepless night so she agreed. She walked to the living room and pretty much fainted on one of the couches. 

Yang closed her eyes tight, trying to get some sleep. Twenty minutes should be enough to get through the rest of the day. She tried thinking of Blake’s smile that morning when she entered the kitchen. That had been her goal when she decided there was no point in trying to get shuteye that night and went to make breakfast. The confirmation she had received from Blake the night before still troubled her greatly. Aleph. The name rang on her head. She had no doubt he had been the bastard who did it. He was the Trader she had mentioned the most in her declaration. Yang could see Blake, broken and in chains, being forced down by a faceless male figure. I should have walked back with her. He grabbed her hair and pressed her face hard on the ground. I should have walked back with her. The man started fidgeting with his pants. Yang tried to scream but she couldn’t. I should have walked back with her. Suddenly her scroll rang and her eyes shot open. She could feel her heart thumping hard in her ears.

It was Ironwood.

“Hello, general” Yang said as she answered the call.

“Hello, Ms. Xiao Long. Would it be possible for you and Blake to come to the base as soon as possible?” the man asked, cutting down to the chase.

“Sure. Why do you need us too, though?” the blonde asked.

“We’ll discuss it when you are here” he replied. Yang quickly realized she was not going to get more information from him.

“Okay, we’ll be there in an hour” she said before hanging up. She had a bad feeling about this. To be honest, she had a bad feeling about everything lately and nobody could judge her for it. She and her girlfriend had been through enough already. Yang hoped for once there were good news. 

\----------------

Once they arrived at the base they were greeted by one of Ironwood’s men. He introduced himself as Kyle and took them to Ironwood’s office. As they walked through the base Yang recalled the last time she had been there. Blake was still missing and she wanted to punch the general in the face for not going after SDC. She wondered if he had actually done something to solve the situation down in the mines or if he had been too much of a coward to fight those with power and money.

“We’re here” Kyle said as he stood next to the door. Yang thanked him and walked in, Blake by her side. Ironwood was sitting on his desk and asked them to sit down with a hand gesture. Both women obliged.

“I’m glad you could both come here on such short notice” the man said.

“We don’t really have much to do in this city” Yang snickered. She had just realized how much she wanted to punch Ironwood in the face. He might have helped her get Blake back but she would never be sure of how much he actually knew about the mines.

“It’s good to see you getting better, Blake” the general added looking at the faunus. She didn’t even flinch, her face frozen in a serious expression. From what her girlfriend had told her she knew Ironwood had helped in her rescue but she also knew he had backed away from investigating SDC’s crimes. “I asked you here because there are two people who are very excited to see you”.

“Blake?” a familiar voice called from behind them. Both of them turned around to see Kali and Ghira at the door, both of them about to cry. The alluded one jumped from her seat and hugged her parents with everything she had. She couldn’t believe they were actually there. Yang smiled but kept her distance. She was still uneasy about interacting with Blake’s parents in spite of how well their last talk went. She didn’t know how to be around them. Kali walked towards her. Yang was definitely not ready for this.

“Hello, Yang” Kali said with a warm smile. The alluded one stood up quickly.

“Hi, Mrs. Belladona. I’m so glad you could come here” she replied.

“We won’t be staying very long but we had to see her. Thanks so much for taking care of Blake” the woman added. Yang looked down. She didn’t deserve to be treated so kindly. It was her fault that Blake had been taken in the first place. What transpired the night before had reminded her of all the damage her own stupidity had caused.

“I’m… It’s not…” she tried to say but the words wouldn't leave her mouth. She wanted to cry. She wanted to disappear. How could she face Blake’s mother after what happened? How could she even speak to her when all of this was her fault? Her body shivered as she looked into amber eyes.

“Yang” Kali said in a firm tone. The blonde looked up from the floor.

“I’m so sorry I just…”

Kali hugged her, her arms firm on her back as she brought her closer.

“It’s not your fault” she said. “You had no way of knowing this would happen”

“But if I had gone with her…” Yang tried to say, doing her best not to cry. Her voice, however, threatened to break at any moment.

“Maybe they would have taken you both, or killed you… And then you wouldn’t have been there to bring her back” Kali broke the hug and Yang could see Blake smiling at them. The weight of the world slowly left her shoulders. After a short while, Blake’s parents thanked Ironwood and they all made their way out of the office. However, before Yang could leave, the general called her. 

“Yang” he said and the girl looked at him puzzled. “Stay a bit longer, please” he asked. She nodded. Blake grabbed her arm and asked with her eyes what was the matter.

“It’s okay, baby. You go show your parents the house. I’ll be there soon” Yang said. Blake nodded reluctantly. Once they were alone, Ironwood spoke.

“There is something else I wanted to discuss with you alone”.

“What is it?” she asked, feeling anxious. 

“We found them” the man replied and her heart stopped beating. “We found the Traders”.


	26. Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will specify it. 
> 
> HELLO EVERYBODY! So yes, we are getting really close to the end. I can’t believe it myself, mostly because I’ve been having the bussiest days of my life jajaja BUT!!! I still found time to write this chapter and I’m glad. THANKS SO MUCH for all the comments and the love :D

Yang considered lying. She could just tell Blake that Ironwood had asked her help to get rid of some grimm. It would be easier. Her girlfriend could go on with her life without ever hearing about The Traders again. Still, she knew it wasn’t right. Relationships were built on trust and she had already told a half truth when she told Blake how she broke her hand. As she made her way back to the house she analyzed what the general had told her in his office and how she was going to break it down for her girlfriend. 

Apparently now that the law was actually after them, The Traders had moved their base of operations to Mantle, hidden between the mines and the woods. The plan was simple: go to the hideout, arrest every single Trader and rescue any faunus that was being held captive. Yang was scared of what she was going to do when she was in front of Aleph. She had promised herself she was never going to become like Adam. Not only due to her own moral compass but also because of Blake. She didn’t deserve having someone she loved turn into killer again. Yang hoped Aleph was strong. She wanted him to put out a fight so she could beat him up unlike Yudok who just gave up like the coward he was. 

Her mind was running wild with different scenarios when she finally got to the house. Deep breath. She opened the door and was immediately struck by the smell of food. It was delicious and her stomach roared. Apparently she was hungry. 

“Is that you, Yang?” a female voice asked from the kitchen. 

“Yes, hello” she replied as she walked into the living room. Ghira and Blake were sitting together on one of the couches. They were both smiling as the black haired girl wrote in her scroll tablet. 

“Yang!” Ghira exclaimed as he stood up. “Finally we can eat!” 

“Oh, dear, she didn’t take that long” Kali said as she entered the living room. Blake laughed silently as she walked towards the blonde.

“It smells really good and…” was all she could say before her girlfriend grabbed her by the neck and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. She froze for a second. Blake had kissed her in front of her parents. If they needed any confirmation of their relationship well this was it. What would they think of their daughter being in a relationship not only with another girl but with a human girl? Deep breath. She glanced at where Kali and Ghira stood and saw them exchanging grins. Maybe things were going to be okay after all. 

“Okey, you two lovebirds go set the table” Kali said with a laugh. Yang blushed and scratched the back of her head. Blake held her hand and they walked to the pantry. Once there, and out of her parent’s sight, the faunus stared at Yang with a question in her amber eyes.

“Can we talk about it after dinner?” the blonde asked. Blake moved her hands one over the other in front of her. Then she took a hand to her lips and moved it forwards, striking her other palm. Finally she moved the tip of her index finger up and down several times. “Yeah, all good. He just had some news”. 

Having lunch with Blake’s parents was a lot of fun. They laughed and made jokes in spite of the sad circumstances that had brought them together. Yang translated for her girlfriend so she wouldn’t have to use her scroll tablet all the time and both Kali and Ghira thanked her for helping their daughter learn sign language. It felt really nice. Yang’s favorite part of the evening, however, was when Kali showed her a picture of Blake when she was three years old. It was the cutest thing in the world. Her cat ears looked enormous and she was holding a stuffed animal. Blake blushed ten shades of red. 

\-----------

Blake sat on the bed as Yang closed the door behind her. After Blake’s parents had retreated for the night, the pair decided to do the same and get some sleep. It had been a pretty exhausting day afterall. However, the faunus hadn’t forgotten the pending conversation they had. She wanted to know what Ironwood had told Yang. Blake stared at her girlfriend as she walked towards her. The blonde understood pretty quickly what the intent of her intense look was. 

“I really wasn’t looking forward to this conversation” Yang admitted a she sat down on the bed. Blake placed a hand on her knee and pressed gently. “I’m going to be honest with you, baby. I seriously considered hiding this from you…” 

“What?” the faunus mouthed, moving her head to the side. 

“But I won’t, of course… It’s just that…” she sighted. It was better to just get it over with. “Ironwood and his men found The Traders”.

Blake’s eyes shot open immediately. Just hearing that name brought back so many memories. The first time she heard it was from the officer that got her statement. It had angered her that they would name themselves something as peaceful as The Traders when they were nothing but kidnappers and torturers. For a second she was back at that room, lying on the floor covered in blood and filth. She could hear Aleph’s voice in her ears, threatening to follow her everywhere she went. 

“Blake?” Yang asked, gently cupping the other girl’s cheek. “Are you okay?”. Amber looked into lilac and the faunus nodded. “They are preparing an operation to move into their hideout and arrest those bastards tomorrow night. He asked me if I wanted to go with them… And I said yes”. 

Silence.

There were so many things going on in Blake’s mind that it almost made her head hurt. First of all, she was glad The Traders were getting arrested and were going to pay not only for what they did to her but to the all the faunus they sold into slavery. Knowing that Ironwood and his men were finally going to do something about the whole situation was a relief. Still, the thought of Yang being part of the operation made her uneasy and not because she thought her girlfriend would be in any kind of danger. She was pretty sure Yang was by far stronger than any of those criminals. She was worried about a completely different thing. Blake had seen the blonde’s rage when she pointed her weapon at Yudok. Her eyes shone red with such intensity that they lit up the night. 

“What do you think?” Yang asked and Blake grabbed her scroll tablet. When she was done writing she gave it to the other girl. “I understand that you want to go. I just don’t want you to do anything you are going to regret later. You are not that person” the blonde read out loud. She sighted. Her girlfriend was right. If she was going to be a part of the operation she was going to need some serious self control. “I know, baby. I just want to make sure they pay for what they did and being there is the best way to do so. I promise you I’m going to control myself” Blake nodded in understanding as she moved forwards to hug Yang tightly. They remained like that for a while, their hearts slowly synchronizing. 

“Can we make out now? It’s hard to enough to keep my hands off you in front of your parents and now that we are alone...” the blonde joked and the other girl laughed silently as she broke the hug. Yang’s ability to break tension with stupid comments was one of her most endearing qualities. 

That night, as Yang fell asleep, the promise she had made repeated itself in her mind. She had to keep it. She had to be able to control herself. If not for her, then for her girlfriend. She looked at Blake and saw the scar on her neck. It was dark and evident, even if it had already healed up. Aleph. The name made its way back in her head and began to slowly carve at her own resolution.

Don't kill anyone.


	27. Tent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will specify it. 
> 
> So yeah, I'm sorry this took so long. I really had to invent some time to finish this but I promised myself I wouldn't abandon this story so I AM GOING TO FINISH THIS. HERE WE GO!

Yang woke up with Blake in her arms. She could see the back of her head, black hair sprawled over the pillow, and feel the warmth of her body against hers. This was what she wanted to wake up to for the rest of her life. It amazed her that she had caught any sleep at all that night. Her mind was racing with all the different scenarios that could take place during her mission with Ironwood. She wondered if the intel he had was real. She wondered if The Traders were still there. She wondered if she would be able to find Aleph. But, most of all, she wondered if she could keep herself from killing him. Then, out of nowhere, a certain faunus began purring and all Yang could focus on was the way in which Blake snuggled against her. Somehow that was all it that took for her to fall asleep. 

The cat eared girl woke up not long after her, stretching her arms before turning around. Their noses brushed against each other and Yang could feel herself blushing. Amber met lilac. Blake’s ears twitched twice before she snored. Yang grinned. Whenever the blonde thought her girlfriend could not be cuter something like that happened. 

“I love you” Yang said before kissing the faunus’ lips gently. She would give everything to hear Blake say she loved her back. It wasn't because she needed any confirmation, of course. She had no doubt that her feelings were reciprocate but Blake's silence would always be a reminder of the hell she had been through and all the things that had been taken from her. Deep breath. She wanted to keep her mind at ease, at least until it was time to leave.

They spent breakfast explaining the mission to Blake’s parents. Yang wasn’t sure if they should be frontal with them but her girlfriend insisted. Their reaction was calm. They understood. Ghira even considered tagging along but talked himself out of it when he realized he would not be able to control himself after what those people had done to his daughter. When the conversation was over, Kali asked Yang to help her with the dishes while Ghira and Blake cleaned the table. Once they were in the kitchen, she pulled her to a side.

“You have to stay calm” she said “Don’t lose yourself, sweetheart”.

“I will and I won’t” the blonde replied before the woman pulled her in for a hug. It still amazed her that Blake’s mother could actually care for her in that way after everything that had happened. When Kali broke the gesture she looked deep into Yang’s eyes before speaking once more. 

“Make sure you get them all”. 

\------

When the aircraft landed on Mantle, Yang was already standing next to the door. She had no time to lose. As soon as it opened she stepped outside, Ironwood close behind her. The operation was simple: get as close as possible to the Trader’s hideout without getting noticed and then rush in. They had the surprise factor in their favor and did not intend to lose it. Yang, who had been headstrong and loud most of her life, had to learn stealth when looking for her girlfriend and it was coming really useful. 

“Yang” Ironwood called. “We have some walking to do, once we are close enough I’ll order the attack” he explained. Yang nodded. She was too focused in controlling her rage to even speak. The Traders were so close she could feel it in her skin. Aleph. The man that had kidnapped, electrocuted and raped Blake was just a few kilometers away. Deep breath. She had to keep her promise. 

The woods were pretty dense but, luckily, it seemed like the atlesian military had done its job and actually knew where they were going. They walked swiftly and without doubt towards the faint sight of artificial light. Yang’s hands were sweating with anticipation. She couldn’t stop thinking about Blake. She was probably having dinner already. Kali said she was going to cook her daughter’s favorite dish that night and Agape was supposed to be over. Yang had invited the bear faunus herself, thinking her company would keep her girlfriend’s mind distracted from the fact she was going after The Traders.

“Halt” a voice whispered in the darkness and they all stopped moving. Ironwood walked into the darkness and out of their sight. In the silence of the night all they could hear was the wind against the trees. After several minutes the general came back. 

“We are very close. They have several guards but nothing we can’t handle. They seem pretty sure they are safe” he said, his voice low but audible. “Walk behind me and when I give the sign you run”. The order was passed ear to ear. They couldn’t risk being heard. 

Yang focused her eyes on the back of Ironwood’s head. Deep breath. She wanted to run already. She wanted to run with all her strength and find Aleph. Time seemed to slow down dramatically until she saw the general raising his hand. This is it. As soon as Ironwood's hand moved the blonde started running.

She felt the trees scratching her face as she rushed through the forest. She could hear the soldiers getting left behind but she didn't care. The sooner she got there the better chance she had at finding Aleph. Blake had told her about the man's semblance. He could, apparently, sense when someone was planning to attack him. She knew he'd try to get away as soon as he felt how much she wanted him dead.

Yang reached the hideout before anybody else. The place reminded her a bit of her mother’s tribe. However, unlike Raven’s camp, it was pretty clear that this was an improvised hideout The Traders moved into after the military started to look for them all around Atlas. In spíte of the circumstances, they had made sure their hideout was completely walled up. She could see the entrance in the distance, two men guarding the door.

Deep breath.

She waited until the men turned their backs to make her first move. Yang had to take advantage of the fact that Ironwood’s men hadn’t arrived yet and find Aleph. She wanted to be the one that got him. The blonde picked up a rock and threw it as far as she could. The sound it made startled the guards. They argued and one of them left to investigate. This was her chance. When the men were about fifteen meters away she ran. They never stood a chance. Ironwood was right: those bastards felt safe and untouchable. They hadn’t really sent their best to guard the entrance and Yang was going to make sure they regretted it. She jumped the guard that was still at the door. He had been looking at his pal when a metallic arm caught him by the neck. 

“In two minutes the Atlas military are going to break into this camp. If you tell me where Aleph is I will let you go and you can get out of here” she said into the man’s ear. “Do you understand?” 

“Yes” the man managed to say, his body frozen in fear. 

“Where is him?” she asked, applying a little bit of extra force in her hold. 

“He’s in the second largest tent. A blue one on the farthest right, close to the wall” she let him go as soon as he finished speaking and didn’t stay long enough to see if he had actually left. She could hear Ironwood’s men arriving in the distance, just like she had in Staub. The hideout was slowly waking up. Where the fuck was this tent?


	28. Aleph

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We’re here guys. I won’t make the usual disclaimer. I’ll just say that I enjoyed writing this and that I hope you like it. I’ve never edited something as much as I checked and rechecked this. Love you all and we have only two more chapters left and I can’t believe it.

Yang ran so fast her legs burned. She had to get to the tent before Aleph heard the military and left. She could feel her semblance under her skin, itching to be used. Deep breath. She had to keep her promise to Blake. Her promise to Kali. Her promise to herself. She wasn’t going to be like him. Killing was not her way. even if sometimes she wished it was. All the tents looked the same until she reached the wooden wall and she saw it. It was blue and big so she guessed this was the place. If the guy at the door had lied to her she would find him and leave him crippled. She could see and hear people running around the hideout, the word about the imminent attack was clearly out. Yang entered the tent and her eyes fixated on the back of a bald head. 

“Aleph?” she asked, trying her best not to sound threatening. She had to keep her mind calm or his semblance would activate. 

“What the fuck is going on outside?” he said and turned around, a rifle in his hands. When he saw the blonde, he snickered. “Well what a treat to the eyes…” 

“You are Aleph?” Yang asked once again, wanting to be sure this was the bastard. 

“Nice to meet you” the man replied. “And you are?”. She didn’t answer. Her eyes turned red at the confirmation and she shifted her mechanical arm into combat mode. This was Aleph. This was the man that had tortured Blake. This was the man that had… “Wait, wait, wait” he cried as he raised his gun. Yang grinned. His semblance had probably revealed to him just how much she wanted him dead. “Who the fuck are you?” 

“You don’t me but I know you very well, Aleph” the blonde said as she took a step towards him. “You took her from me. You starved her. You tortured her. You raped her. I found her and now I found you”. 

“Wait are you… You are the one that broke into Staub?” he shivered and she nodded. “Don’t move or I’ll shoot her!” Aleph yelped as he pointed his gun to a side. Yang followed his gaze nd her eyes fell upon a girl in chains. She had green eyes, brown hair and cat ears on top or her head. The faunus looked absolutely terrified, her body visible shivering. Yang was reminded of when she had found Blake: her body broken and her eyes absent. That memory would be burned in her mind forever. 

“If you do that, I’ll kill you” Yang said in a threatening tone. She gritted her teeth together as hard as she could, so hard she could taste blood. 

“You’ll have to catch me first” Aleph replied, fear visible in his eyes, as he took out something from his pocket. 

Click. 

Yang heard the sound of electricity just before she heard the girl scream. She turned around and ran towards the brunette. She had to help her. That was probably the collar they had used on Blake and that was, without a doubt, the fucking click that had traumatized her. Aleph run out of the tent with the rifle still in his hand. She bent down next to the the faunus as her yelling subsided. She was breathing fast. 

“Are you…” Yang tried to ask. 

“Get him” the girl replied. Her green eyes were filled with anger and the blonde nodded. 

“They’ll get you soon” she said before running with all the strength she had left. Her skin was itching like hell. Yang had no doubt it was hot to the touch. The military had already broken in the hideout and were arresting everyone in sight. Don’t get him. Please don’t get him. She knew that if the law got him first she wouldn’t be able to beat the fucking life out of him. Then she saw him, the back of his bald head and the silhouette of his gun, opening a secret door in the wooden wall and running outside. 

This was it. 

Yang followed him through the wall and into the woods. She saw the back of his bald head between the trees and she could hear him breathing hard. He wasn’t as fast as her but the time he won by electrocuting that poor girl had given him an advantage. The trees became more and more scarce as the chase continued and soon they disappeared completely. Yang saw a cliff in the horizon. Perfect. There was nowhere left for him to run. Aleph turned around, terrified, as he held up his rifle. 

“One more step and I’ll shoot!” he threatened. 

“Please do” Yang replied as she walked towards him. Her eyes were red and they lit up the night just they had in Staub. Deep breath. Remember your promise. 

“Fuck you!” he screamed before shooting. Yang deflected the bullet with her mechanical arm and quickly shot back, striking the man’s gun and making it fall to the ground. “Please, just let them arrest me. Don’t kill me!” Aleph screamed, terrified at the girl as she pointed her gauntlet at him. He could feel just how much she wanted him dead and it broke him. She was so much stronger than him .

“What you did to her has no name, you fucking piece of shit” she said between gritted teeth as she walked towards him. He started walking backwards, trying to stay away from her. “Give me a reason not to beat you to a bloody pulp and shoot you in the head”. 

“I just… I can give you money, I can…” his eyes went wide and then he fell. Aleph was so focused on Yang he didn’t realize he was at the edge of the cliff. It was high and he fell hard, his body crashing against the rocks a couple of times. When he hit the ground one of his legs was angled in the wrong direction. He screamed and it was music in the blonde’s ears. “SHIT!” he yelled, holding his leg. “FUUUUUUUCK!”. 

Yang walked to the edge to look at Aleph. He was laying on the ground with a broken leg, his bone exposed over his pants. He kept yelling and she wanted him to shriek his throat raw. Maybe then he would understand how it felt for Blake who couldn’t even scream. She heard the growls before she saw the grimm. A couple of ursas had felt their energy and had appeared between the trees down in the forest. They started walking towards Aleph. 

“FUCK! HELP ME!” he said, looking her in the eyes. “I’ll give you anything! I’ll do anything!”. The growls became fiercer as one of the creatures came close enough to bite his arm. She wasn’t really sure if she could actually make that jump and help him and she had no intention of finding out. He was hurt and desperate and he deserved it. This was the man that took Blake’s voice, scarred her body and broke her soul. This was a man that thought it was okay to torture and sell faunus like they were property. Yang turned around and started walking back to the hideout. This was poetic justice. She didn’t even have to push him. What an idiot. What a piece of shit. When the screams ceased she knew it was done.

Good riddance.


	29. New normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This has taken quite a while. Thanks to everyone out there still reading this. We are close to the end. I am finishing this, don’t doubt it.

Yang turned the key slowly, trying to make the least noise possible. The house was completely silent and it was four in the morning so everyone was more than likely asleep. The last thing she wanted to do was wake up or startle Blake. She wasn’t really sure how much rest her girlfriend actually got from sleeping so every second counted. The dark bags under the faunus’ eyes became deeper every day, as if tiredness was a chronic sickness. Waking up was the worst part. Nightmares tormented her most nights and the first thing she would think when she opened her eyes those days was that she was back with The Traders. Yang had to hold her and calm her down for her to remember she was actually safe, to remember she was home and hell was over. 

Yang pushed the door open and stepped inside, expecting it to be completely dark. It wasn’t. She closed the door with caution. There was a faint light coming from the living room. When she walked towards it she saw Blake asleep on the couch on the exact same spot where the blonde had waited for the her to come back when she was taken. There was a book in her hands and a small light on the table next to her. It was a very cute sight and Yang could almost feel her heart melting in her chest. The scene made her smile in spite of what she had just experienced back the The Traders’ hideout. 

Yang bent down and gently picked her girlfriend up from the couch. She hadn’t carried her up in that fashion since the night she had rescued her in Staub. It filled her with joy to feel that the faunus had put on some weight. She had been scared at how easy it was to lift her. Blake flinched the second her body left the couch. She opened her eyes as wide as she could in absolute panic. Her body started trembling. The blonde held her hard against her chest, trying her best not to drop her. She could hear her breathing becoming both faster and harder by the second. 

“It’s okay” Yang whispered in one of Blake’s cat ears. “It’s me”. Just as the words left her mouth she could feel the other girl’s body relaxing and her eyes finally moving to look at her. Her breathing slowed down. “You okay? Want me to…” before she could finish the question the faunus took her face in her hands and kissed her hard on the lips. When she pulled back Yang was blushing and it made Blake’s lips curl up in a smile. She had been worried sick all night, doing her best not to fall asleep. It was clear she had failed miserably. However, in spite of her failure, she was filled with joy that Yang had come back all right.

“That was… unexpected” the blonde said, the blush in her cheeks still evident. “Extremely nice but.. unexpected” she added. Blake laughed silently and was interrupted by her own snore. “Let’s go to sleep, baby”. Yang walked towards their shared bedroom and gently lowered her girlfriend in the bed and covered her with a blanket. She quickly snuggled the pillow and fell asleep. Yang changed her clothes and washed up in the bathroom. Not long after, she got in bed with her girlfriend. Almost immediately, Blake curled up against her chest and started purring. Sleep came to her few minutes later. 

\-----------------

It was six or seven in the morning when Blake woke up. Her body tensed up slightly as she eased out of the usual nightmare. Deep breath. The feeling of Yang’s arms wrapped around her brought her a sense of bliss that was finally able to calm her down. She turned around carefully. Their faces were very close and she could see small scratches on the blonde’s cheeks like the ones you get from running through thick woods. Blake had seen them on her own face the day after their fight with Adam. 

The realization came so abruptly it startled her. She had fallen asleep on the couch waiting for her girlfriend to come home from The Trader’s hideout. Many questions appeared on her head. Were they gone? Had Yang kept control? Had she found Aleph? Blake tried to convince herself she could wait until the blonde woke up but the anxiety became very bad. She grabbed Yang’s arm gently and moved her slightly. If she could speak she could just call her name. Yang’s eyes opened slowly. Amber met lilac.

“Is it tomorrow already?” the blonde asked, her voice still half asleep. Blake stared at her with a question in her eyes and Yang understood perfectly what she wanted to know. “I kept my promise” she sad, “And poetic justice did the rest. He’s gone and Ironwood got all of the rest. They are never leaving prison”.

Aleph was gone from this world and she could feel the memory of him slowly fading away. Someday, she hoped, she would forget the sound of his voice and his face would disappear from her mind completely. Blake didn’t know how to react at the news. She didn’t feel happy that he had died. Even if he was gone it didn’t take away what he had done to her. Her voice was still gone and the scars were still visible. Nevertheless, she was glad. He was an evil man that was never going to change. He had hurt her in ways she didn’t want to think about. Now he was never going to do it to anybody else. 

“Baby, you are shaking” Yang whispered as she held her close. “It's okay” she added and the faunus could hear Agape’s voice in her head telling her that exact same thing back at the mine. Blake grabbed onto her girlfriend like she was afraid she was going to fall and finally allowed herself to cry. 

Later that morning, when Yang told Kali and Ghira what had happened during the mission, they thanked her effusively. Not only because of what Aleph had done to their daughter, but because of what The Traders had done to the faunus. 

\-----------------

“I kinda had gotten used to having you here” Yang said.

“There’s still a lot to do in the White Fang and you know she’d never let us stay so long” the woman said glancing at her daughter as she walked towards them with her father. The blonde nodded. Kali was right. Blake was adamant about her parents going back to Menagerie as soon as possible. It wasn’t, of course, because she didn’t enjoy their company. She was so glad they had actually been able to get to Atlas. It was beautiful and healing to have them close but she didn’t want to get in the way of the restoration of the White Fang. That was by far more important than her. Besides, she had Yang and the team. It’s not like was alone. 

“You sure walk fast” Ghira told them, him and Blake finally catching up. 

“Or maybe we run very slowly” Yang joked with a grin. The White Fang’s leader stared at her for a few seconds with an unreadable expression on his face. Maybe she had overstepped her boundaries with that comment. She was quickly convinced otherwise when he let out a big laugh. 

“I’m going to miss you, Xiao Long” the man snickered as he patted her on the back affectionately. The feeling was mutual. Yang had grown very fond of Ghira in the time they had shared. He laughed at her smart remarks and, since both of them preferred hand to hand combat, they had shared some fighting techniques. “Take care of each other” 

“We always do” she replied.

“Next time you see Agape tell her we say hi. She’s such a sweet girl” Kali added with a gentle smile on her lips. Blake nodded as she hugged her mother tightly. “I love you so much, sweetheart. Call us anytime”. The youngest of the pair took a hand to her face with two fingers extended them and moved them forwards. Then she pinched her chin. 

“She says: see you soon” Yang translated. 

“Yes, dear. See you both very soon” Kali said as she embraced Yang gently. “Thank you so much” she whispered in her ear. The blonde felt a tug at her heart. She had spent so much time blaming herself for what had happened to her girlfriend that she would have never imagined having such a good relationship with her parents. Kali’s words echoed in her mind as the couple walked away from them. 

\-----------------

Yang’s body started hurting the moment they got to the house. It seemed the pain from the mission was starting to settle in. Her legs were burning from all the running she did and walking was enough to make her uncomfortable. She thought of getting a nap, since it was only about three in the afternoon but decided to take a shower instead. Maybe some hot water could calm down her muscles. She left Blake reading a book on their room and jumped in. She was right. As soon as the water touched her body she felt relief. 

The last three weeks of her life had been a rollercoaster. The eight days Blake had been missing were the longest of her entire life. She’d never forget the feeling of absolute despair she felt the moment she walked into the room they kept her at The Trader’s base. The blood splattered on the wall was a sight burned in her mind forever. Finding her girlfriend hadn’t been easy but she had been right not to feel victorious. The real struggle was surviving after. 

She closed her eyes and allowed the water to roll down her face, her hair sprawling all the way to her hips, heavy and soaked. She took a deep breath and focused on the beating of her own heart. Yang had been obsessed with turning things back to normal but she had come to accept their lives were forever changed. There wasn’t even some sort of guarantee that Blake would ever speak again so every time they had to communicate in sign language they were forced to remember what Aleph had done. She hated him like she hadn’t hated anyone else before. She’d seen him die and yet he still haunted them.

Yang was lost in her thoughts with her eyes closed and her ears focused on her own pulse. She didn’t hear the door opening or the steps towards the shower. She was oblivious of the clothes that were falling on the ground just outside the shower. The blonde didn’t even feel the curtain moving. What finally made Yang aware of another presence behind her was when the faunus wrapped her arms around her waist. Her eyes shot wide open and she froze. She could feel Blake’s naked body against her and it sent her brain into shortcut. Yang felt how the faunus pulled her shoulder and she turned around slowly. 

Blake’s amber eyes were filled with love. The blonde could feel it. Her black hair was wet and flat on her head and it made her cat ears seem bigger. It was incredibly cute. Yang allowed her eyes to drift lower for a split second and she blushed intensely, moving her eyes right back up almost immediately. Deep breath. Her girlfriend’s body was perfect and it made her itch inside. Still, she didn’t want to go too far and scare the faunus so she waited for her to make a move. She did. Blake inched closer to her and caught her lips in a kiss. When she felt a tongue entering her mouth, the itch inside her became almost painful. Their bodies melted together as the gesture deepened. Yang held the other girl’s waist and Blake grabbed onto her neck. 

“I love you so much” she said, pulling away slightly. “I hope you never forget that”. She thought she saw tears in the faunus’ eyes but it was impossible to know in the shower’s rain. Blake didn’t reply in any fashion, she just got on her knees and moved the blonde’s leg over her shoulder. Yang was barely able to stay on her feet.


End file.
